The vireos (Vireonidea) make up a family of small to medium-sized passerine birds. Of the 57 species all but ten are found in the Americas. The other ten are the White-bellied Erpornis and the nine species of shrike-vireos from SE Asia, previously thought to be related to the babblers.

All members of the family eat some fruit but mostly insects and other arthropods. They take prey from leaves and branches; true vireos also flycatch. The resident species occur in pairs or family groups that maintain territories all year (except Hutton's Vireo, which joins mixed feeding flocks). Most of the migrants defend winter territories against conspecifics.

Males of most species are persistent singers. Songs are usually rather simple, monotonous in some species of the Caribbean littoral and islands, and most elaborate and pleasant to human ears in the Chocó Vireo and the peppershrikes.