17 



WHITE EYED YIREO. 



( Vireo Noveboracensis.) 



The white eyed vireo is not so abundant as the vireo 

 olivaceous. It arrives generally about the first week 

 in May. It first confines its revellings to high open 

 woodlands, where among the branches high and low it 

 gleans a ready sustenance. Later in the season it is an 

 occasional denizen of cultivated fields and orchards, 

 where its presence is made known by its loud and pe- 

 culiar song: besides the above places, it occupies wild 

 pastures and woodlands, where there are numbers of 

 brier patches, undergrowth and ivy, where it delights 

 to hang its beautiful pencil nest. This vireo is one of 

 our chief songsters. Its -notes are louder and clearer 

 than most of our eastern species, and it has great vari- 

 ation and melody. Beetles and worms form its chief 

 food, thus riding vegetation of much destructive ver- 

 mine. Nesting commences the latter part of May and 

 requires a period of time varying from four to six days. 

 Eggs are four in number, oval oblong, of a crystal 

 white, spotted with brown and lilac on the larger end. 

 Nest suspended from a low brier or bush: it is compos- 

 ed of fine inner bark of grape vine, moss fibers and 

 grass: it is a neat cup or cradle, and the materials are 

 finely woven together, forming compact walls. The 

 family of vireos are extensive and numerous, nearly all 

 of which are sweet singers and beautifully clothed in 

 various shades of metalic bronze green, white and 

 brown. The nests are all neatly made, and much re- 

 semble each other in appearance and locality. 



