THE WARBLING VIREO. 151 



thought that I saw them grow every time I turned from my drawing to peep 

 at them. 



On the fifteenth day, about eight in the morning, the little birds all stood 

 on the border of the nest, and were fed as usual. They continued there the 

 remainder of the day, and about sunset re-entered the nest. The old birds 

 I had frequently observed roosted within about a foot above them. On the 

 sixteenth day after their exclusion from the egg, they took to wing, and 

 ascended the branches of the tree, with surprising ease and firmness. They 

 were fed another day after, on the same tree, and roosted close together in a 

 row on a small twig, the parents just above them. The next morning they 

 flew across the street, and betook themselves to a fine peach-orchard several 

 hundred yards from my lodging. Never had Huber watched the operations 

 of his bees with more intentness than I had employed on this occasion, and 

 I bade them adieu at last with great regret. 



The principal food of this species consists of small black caterpillars, 

 which that season infested all the poplars in the street. They searched for 

 them in the manner of the Red-eyed Vireo and Blue-eyed Yellow Warbler, 

 moving sidewise along the twigs, like the latter, now and then balancing 

 themselves on the wing opposite their prey, and snapping it in the manner 

 of the Muscicapa Ruticilla, sometimes alighting sidewise on the tree, 

 seldom sallying forth in pursuit of insects more than a few yards, and 

 always preferring to remain among the branches. I never saw either of the 

 old birds disgorge pellets, as I have seen Pewees do. 



I observed that they now and then stood in a stiffened attitude, balancing 

 their body from side to side on the joint of the tarsus and toes, as on a hinge, 

 but could not discover the import of this singular action. During the love 

 days of the pair mentioned above, the male would spread its little wings and 

 tail, and strut in short circles round the female, pouring out a low warble so 

 sweet and mellow that I can compare it only to the sounds of a good musical 

 box. The female received these attentions without coyness, and I have 

 often thought that these birds had been attached to each other before that 

 season. 



No name could have been imposed upon this species with more propriety 

 than that of the Warbling Vireo. The male sings from morning to night, 

 so sweetly, so tenderly, with so much mellowness and softness of tone, and 

 yet with notes so low, that one might think he sings only for his beloved, 

 without the least desire to attract the attention of rivals. In this he differs 

 greatly from most other birds. Even its chiding notes — tschP, tschS, were 

 low and unobtruding. The nestlings uttered a lisping sound, not unlike that 

 of a young mouse. The only time I saw the old birds ruffled, was on dis- 

 covering a brown lizard ascending their tree. They attacked it courageously, 



