WHITE-EYED VIREO. 
179 
peeping through the bushes ; and in the latter end of the 
month a pair had taken up their abode in the thickets of 
Fresh Pond, so that those which first arrive leave us and pro- 
ceed farther to the north. On the 2 2d of June I heard the 
male in full song, near his nest in our neighborhood, where in- 
cubation was going on. His warble was very pleasing, though 
somewhat monotonous and whimsical. This affectionate note, 
often repeated near to his faithful mate while confined to 
her nest, was like ' tshlppewee-wd-say, ishippewee-wk-was-say, 
sweetly whistled, and with a greater compass of voice and 
loudness than might have been expected from the size of the 
little vocalist. The song is sometimes changed two or three 
times in the course of twenty minutes ; and 1 have heard the 
following phrases : ’att tshippewat 'wurr, tshippewat 'wurr ; at 
another time, ’ tshipeway 'tshe 0 et ’tsherr. On another visit 
the little performer had changed his song to 'pip te ivaigh d 
ishewa, with a guttural trill, as usual, at the last syllable. He 
soon, however, varied his lay to 'whip te woi wee, the last sylla- 
ble but one considerably lengthened and clearly whistled. Such 
were the captious variations of this little quaint and peculiarly 
earnest musician, whose notes are probably almost continually 
varied. On the 6th of October I still heard one of these wan- 
dering little minstrels, who at intervals had for several weeks 
visited the garden, probably in quest of berries. His short, 
quaint, and more guttural song was now atshee-vait (probably 
the attempt of a young bird). As late as the 30th of October 
the White-Eyed Vireo still lingered around Cambridge, and 
on the margin of a pond, surrounded by weeds and willows, he 
was actively employed in gleaning up insects and their larvae ; 
and now, with a feebler tone of voice, warbled with uncommon 
sweetness wholly different from his usual strain, sounding some- 
thing like the sweet whisjterings of the Song Sparrow at the 
present season, and was perhaps an attempt at mimickry. 
Occasionally, also, he blended in his harsher, scolding, or 
querulous mewing call. 
This species, like the rest, build commonly a pensile nest 
suspended by the upper edge of the two sides on the circular 
