The red-eye is classed among the flycatchers by some writers, but is
much more of a worm-eater, and has few of the traits or habits of the
Muscicapa or the true Sylvia. He resembles somewhat the warbling
vireo, and the two birds are often confounded by careless observers.
Both warble in the same cheerful strain, but the latter more
continuously and rapidly. The red-eye is a larger, slimmer bird, with
a faint bluish crown, and a light line over the eye. His movements are
peculiar. You may see him hopping among the limbs, exploring then
under side of the leaves, peering to the right and left, now flitting
a few feet, now hopping as many, and warbling incessantly,
occasionally in a subdued tone, which sounds from a very indefinite
distance. When he has found a worm to his liking, he turns lengthwise
of the limb and and bruises its head with his beak before devouring
it.
As I enter the woods the slate-colored snowbird starts up before me
and chirps sharply. His protest when thus disturbed is almost metallic
in its sharpness. He breeds here, and is not esteemed a snowbird at
all, as he disappears at the near approach of winter, and returns
again in spring, like the song sparrow, and is not in any way
associated with the cold and snow.
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