The crows and jays and other enemies of the birds have
learned to explore this belt pretty thoroughly. But the leaves and
the protective coloring of most nests baffle them as effectually,
no doubt as they do the professional o?logist. The nest of the
red-eyed vireo is one of the most artfully placed in the wood. It is
just beyond the point where the eye naturally pauses in its search;
namely, on the extreme end of the lowest branch of the tree, usually
four or five feet from the ground. One looks up and down through the
tree,--shoots his eye-beams into it as he might discharge his gun at
some game hidden there, but the drooping tip of that low horizontal
branch--who would think of pointing his piece just there? If a crow or
other marauder were to alight upon the branch or upon those above it,
the nest would be screened from him by the large leaf that usually
forms a canopy immediately above it. The nest-hunter standing at the
foot of the tree and looking straight before him, might discover it
easily, were it not for its soft, neutral gray tint which blends so
thoroughly with the trunks and branches of trees.
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