The Least Vi re os 
such as intersect the Fresno district, or who have found him to be the 
inevitable concomitant of willow trees on the banks of the Colorado, 
can scarcely conceive of the Least Yireo apart from running water. 
Yet I have seen the bird, in mid-May, in the cactus and chaparral belt 
near Claremont, as much at home, apparently, as was the Western 
Gnatcatcher. 
There is, for me, a whimsically childish quality in both the voice 
and behavior of the Least Vireo. The bird is as agile and restless as 
a four-year-old; while his 
“song,” a gushing out- 
burst of childish 
confidences, an in¬ 
coherent medley which 
you will not take 
seriously the first time, 
you will be obliged to 
hear again and again. 
Whether you intend to 
or not, you will soon 
find yourself puzzling 
over his bright gibber¬ 
ish, and trying to make 
out what the youngster 
is driving at. Hooly 
doopity doolity todaw'it, 
evidently means nothing 
at all, unless it happens 
to be the Chinese for 
“I wish you a happy 
New Year.” A merry 
elfin over on the San 
Jacinto kept telling us 
I'm surely happy to meet' 
yer. He’d possibly got 
wind of our coming, for 
he insisted, I’m surely 
happy to meet yeou. This 
same youngster 
haunted certain thick¬ 
ets near camp, and took Taken in Monlerey Counly 
a lively interest in our A contented little housewife 
domestic affairs,-an CALIFORNIA least vireo on nest 
Photo by the Author 
588 
