SPRING ARRIVAL OF THE BIRDS. 39 
him: “Of all my feathered acquaintances this is my 
favorite. I always loved it, and I can never look upon 
one after it is killed without a sad feeling, as if it were 
one of my own dear friends dead before me.” The nests 
of all the vireos are exquisitely fashioned, pensile, but 
not swinging. 
The warbling vireos ( Vireo gilvus) are common in the 
city in summer, and are most excellent singers; still, 
perhaps, they are less known by people in general than 
most any other summer resident. They are small and 
inconspicuous in color, and their low, sweet voices do 
not catch the unlistening ear. They arrive with the 
thrushes in May, and distribute themselves freely in 
cities and villages, where they find abundant food in 
larvee and small insects on leaves of the shade trees. Of 
all our city birds, the songs of the warbling vireos yield 
me the purest and most exquisite pleasure. They mean 
peace and joy and glad tidings. However worried with 
business cares, or disturbed in other relations, I am 
immediately put on good terms with surroundings by 
this little optimist with the voice of an angel. That 
soft, peaceful warble overhead among the green 
branches, floating down in waves of melody, makes the 
earth purer and brighter, and lifts the heart into the 
regions of sunlight, awakening in the mind the kind- 
est thoughts towards all creatures. Thoreau caught 
the inspiration of the song and wrote: 
“‘Upon the lofty elm tree sprays 
The vireo sings the changes sweet 
During the sultry summer days, 
Lifting men’s thoughts above the street.” 
