74 BIRDS 



in an oak or apple tree or sapling, and securely lace it 

 through the rim on to the forked twigs. Nests vary in ap- 

 pearance, but you wiU notice that these weavers show a 

 preference for dried grass as a foundation into which are 

 wrought bits of bark, lichen, wasps' nest "paper," spider 

 web, plant down, and curly vine tendrils. 



The White-eyed Vireo 



It is not often that one can get close enough to any bird 

 to see the white of his eyes, but the brighter olive-green of 

 this vivacious little white-eyed vireo's upper parts, its 

 white breast faintly washed with yellow on the sides, and 

 the two yellowish white bars on its wings help one to 

 recognize it. 



"Pertest of songsters," the white-eyed vireo makes 

 whatever neighborhood it enters lively at once. Taking 

 up a residence in the tangled shrubbery or thickety under- 

 growth, it immediately begins to scold like a crotchety old 

 wren. Its half-muffled, cackling soliloquies reflect irrita- 

 tion over the merest trifles — a passing bumblebee, a visit 

 from another bird to its tangle, an unsuccessful peck 

 at a gnat — anything seems liable to rouse its wrath, 

 while it sharply snaps out what might perhaps be freely 

 constructed into "cuss-words." Now, who are you, 

 eh? its five-syllabled "song" imsociably seems to 

 inquire. 



The inconspicuous little bird has a strong, decided 

 character. The precious nest, so jealously guarded, is a 

 deeper cup that that of the vireo with the ruby-red eye, 

 deeper than that of any of the other vireos, and it usually 

 contains three favorite materials in addition to those gen- 



