141 



THE YELLOW-THROATED VIREO, OR GREENLET. 



-fVlREO flavifrons, Vieill. 

 PLATE CCXXXVIII.— Male. 





While the small White-eyed Vireo rambles among the low bushes and 

 brambles of the fields of all parts of the United States, the Yellow-throated 

 species takes possession of the forest, and gleans with equal ease among the 

 branches of the tallest trees, to which it seems to give a marked preference 

 during the spring and summer. It is fond of the quietest solitudes, and in 

 its habits is nearly allied to the Red-eyed Vireo. Like it also, it is a slow, 

 careful, and industrious bird, never imitating the petulant, infantile, and 

 original (if I may so speak) freaks of its gay relative, the White-eyed. It 

 is more silent than either of the species above mentioned, although its notes 

 have a strong resemblance to those of the Red-eyed. These notes are more 

 measured and plaintive than those of any of its tribe, sometimes consisting 

 of sounds resembling the syllables pree-a, pree-d, rising and falling in sweet 

 modulation. One might imagine them the notes of a bird lost in the woods, 

 and they make a strong impression on the mind of the listener. Now and 

 then the sight of his mate seems to animate the male, when he repeats the 

 same syllables eight or ten times in succession. When sitting pensively on 

 a twig, as if waiting for an invitation to sing, it utters a kind of whining 

 sound, and in autumn, as well as during its retrograde march towards the 

 south, it becomes quite silent. 



When searching for food, it ascends the branches of trees by regular short 

 hops, examining with care every leaf and bud in its way, never leaving a 

 branch for another until it is quite assured that nothing remains on it. When 

 flying to some distance, its motions, although quick, are irregular, and it 

 passes among the boughs at a moderate height. 



This species is at all times extremely rare in Louisiana, where I have seen 

 it only during early spring or late in the autumn. My friend Bachman 

 has never observed it in South Carolina. Indeed, it is only from Penn- 

 sylvania eastward that it is met with in any quantity. During summer it 

 feeds entirely on insects, devouring with equal pleasure caterpillars, small 

 moths, wasps, and wild bees. The summer over, it ranges among the low 

 bushes in search of berries, accompanied by its young, and at that time enters 

 the orchards and gardens even of our villages and cities. It arrives in 



