308 
INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS. 
the last syllable but one considerably lengthened and clear- 
ly whistled. Such were the captious variations of this lit- 
tle quaint and peculiarly earnest musician, whose notes 
are probably almost continually varied. On the 6th of Oc- 
tober, I still heard one of these wandering little minstrels, 
who, at intervals, had for several weeks visited the gar- 
den, 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 20th 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 something like the sweet 
whisperings 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. From this journal, it must be evident, 
that the present species retires no further for winter quar- 
ters than the southern parts of the United States, where 
many also breed, as would appear, from the concomi- 
tant circumstance of their music ; nor is it at all improb- 
able that the species may likewise inhabit the maritime 
parts of Mexico, as well as Louisiana. 
This species, like the rest, builds commonly a pensile 
nest, suspended by the upper edge of the two sides on the 
circular bend, often, of the smilax or green-briar vine. 
It is composed of slender twigs, grassy fibres, pieces of 
paper, sometimes newspapers, or fragments of hornets’ 
nests ; the interior is lined with slender root fibres. The 
whole fabric appears to me, as far as my opportunities 
have extended, like the Cat-Bird’s nest in miniature. 
The eggs are 4 or 5, white, marked at the larger end 
