The Singing of Birds. B.P.BickneU. 
Vireo noveboracensis. White-eyed Vireo. 
There appears to be no regular period of silence with this 
Vireo, which is more or less given to vocalism through its entire 
stay. In July and August, however, there seems to be a time of 
minimum vocal vigor, when singing is intermittent, and some- 
times appears to cease briefly altogether ; but there is no constant 
rule, the birds appearing to be much influenced by varying exter- 
nal causes. A severe drought, as with other species, is unfavor- 
able to song, and during the exceptional aridity of the summer of 
18S1 singing seemed, at intervals, to be wholly discontinued. In 
September, or by late August, the normal vocal vigor is regained ; 
and sometimes singing becomes very general late in September, 
shortly before its discontinuance with us, which dates from the 
2 2d to the 30th, and is due to the departure of the bird. 
This Vireo possesses greater powers of song than are generally 
accorded it. Perhaps its want of recognition as a vocalist is 
because it does not reveal its fullest capabilities in the spring 
when birds are expected to do their best. All through the spring 
and early summer we hear in low bushy places and on shrubby 
hillsides its brief and emphatic song, and though this has at least 
two distinct changes, greater variation is not often attempted. But 
it has another song which is almost wholly confined to the season 
of late summer and autumn. This is less vehement than the 
song of the earlier season, but more prolonged and of greater 
compass. It is a voluble and confused outpouring of singularly 
involved and varied notes, showing considerable power of mim- 
icry, and of indefinite continuance. Some approach to this song 
is often noticeable in the ordinary songs of mid-summer, and 
sometimes it is actually produced early in July ; but oftener it is 
delayed until August. I11 September it is frequent, and com- 
monly is among the last songs heard. On a few occasions I have 
heard it in May and June, but these cases were wholly exception- 
al. In the autumn a change of habits is noticeable on the part of 
those individuals who have acquired the later song in its full 
complexity. No longer are these restricted to their earlier haunts 
amid hillside shrubbery and swampy undergrowth, which still 
harbor their less enterprising companions, but they are often to be 
found singing with full vigor amid the branches of tall trees, in 
the open, about the borders of woods, or even in cultivated 
grounds close about habitations. 
On one occasion— July 28, 187S — I listened to a White-eyed 
Vireo rehearsing its common song with a rapidity that left no 
pause in its utterance. In its precipitate expression it soon lost 
control of the regular repetition of its strain, and the notes 
becoming sadly mixed, it desisted in confusion. It actually 
seemed as if it were experimenting to see how many separate 
songs could be thrown oft' in a given time. 
Auk, I, Oct., 1884. P. 3Z3- ZZty ■ 
