While living and working in New Orleans, John James Audubon noted that the White-eyed vireo started arriving on March 1 or sooner depending on the weather. From then on, a walk by “detached groves in abandoned fields” containing the likes of briars, sumac, and hollies would reveal White-eyed vireos “so abundant, that it would be more difficult not to meet one, than to observe a dozen or more.” John Kirk Townsend (1809-1851) reported to Audubon seeing and hearing the White-eyed vireo along the Columbia River during the spring and summer. Audubon also encountered the White-eyed vireo as far north as Labrador and Nova Scotia. Since then, the White-eyed vireo has limited its nesting to the southeastern United States.
Instead of placing the White-eyed Vireo with a type of briar, sumac, or holly, Audubon has the bird perching in a Chinaberry tree (Melia azedarach) in Birds of America. The tree is also known as the Pride-of-China. As the name might indicate, the tree is not native to North America and appears to be one of the few, if not the only, non-native tree that appears in Birds of America. The tree along with the Paper mulberry first started to be planted in Charleston, South Carolina, to conform to a tree law that was passed in the town in 1764. The Chinaberry and Paper mulberry were recommended trees for planting because they were deciduous and comparatively fast to grow. Deciduous trees were required because they provided shade during the hot summer months and allowed the sun to shine through during the colder parts of the year. The Chinaberries and Paper mulberries must have become fairly common in order to inspire Audubon’s assistant, Joseph Mason, to create a drawing.