1903.
June 14
(No 4)
Lake Umbagog.
  shifting his position. Occasionally he would turn half
around in the nest and once he craned his neck over its 
rim and rearranged some of the outer material with
his bill tugging at it rather violently. The female was not
seen on this occasion.
Philadelphia Vireo
  Dr. Dwight has stated (Auk XIV, 1897, p.266) that
the song of philadelphicus "partakes of the liquid sweetness
and leisurely irregularity of that of the Solitary Vireo,
the notes being sweeter, clearer, and a trifle higher
pitched than those of the Red-eye." This is perhaps
true in a general way but yet the statement seems
to me on the whole misleading, for the voice of the
Philadelphia Vireo lacks almost wholly that wild, ringing
quality which makes the voice of the Solitary so very
beautiful and effective. It is, indeed, at least to my ears,
scarcely less tiresome and monotonous than that of the
Red-eye and, as I have already remarked, all but
one of the notes appear to be identical in form and
nearly so in quality and expression with some of those
habitually used by V. olivaceus. The exception - the ser-wee-e
note - certainly bears a marked resemblance in form to
one of the Solitary's notes but it has much less vigor &
beauty of expression. Dr. Dwight does not appear to
have heard the rapid, voluble song at all. This, as I
have above stated,seems to me to be absolutely
indistinguishable from the normal song of the Red-eye.
It did not occur to me, unfortunately, to time the utterances
when the bird was singing in the tall poplar this morning
but I am sure that there must have been quite as
many to the minute as the most voluble Red-eye
is ever capable of delivering. On the whole it is quite