VIREOXID.K — THK VIREOS. 381 



with mosses and lichens, and thus made to conform closely in appearance to 

 the moss-grown bark of the tree. The under portion of the nest is strength- 

 ened by long strips of the inner bark of the wild grape. Within is an 

 inner nest made of fine grassy stems and bark. It forms exactly a half- 

 sphere in sliape, is symmetrical, and is very thoroughly made. Its diameter 

 is four, and its height two and one fourth inches. 



Mr. Xuttall describes a nest of this bird, found by him suspended from the 

 forked twig of an oak, near a dwelling-house, as coated over with green 

 lichens, attached very artfully by a slender string of caterpillars' silk, tlie 

 whole afterwards tied over by almost invisible threads of the same, so nicely 

 done as to appear to be glued on. The whole fabric was thus made to re- 

 semble an accidental knot of tlie tree, grown o\er ^\-ith moss. Another nest, 

 observed by tlie same writer, was fixed on tlie depending branches of a wild 

 cherry, and was fifty feet from the ground. So lofty a position as this is 

 probably very unusual. I have never met with any higher than ten feet 

 from the ground. 



The food of this Vireo is chiefly insects, and in the breeding-season is 

 altogether so. Later in the season the}- mingle witli these various kinds of 

 smaU berries. 



The eggs of this species vary from .95 to .88 of an inch in length, and 

 from .65 to .60 in breadth. Their groimd-color is white, often with a very 

 perceptible tint of roseate when fresh. In this respect they differ in a very 

 marked manner from the eggs of any other of this genus, except, perhaps, 

 the barbatula, and may thus always be very easily recognized. They are 

 more or less boldly marked with blotches of a dark roseate-brown, also pe- 

 culiar to tlie eggs of this species, though varying greatly in their size and 

 depth of color. 



This Vireo winters, in great numbers, in Central America, and was largely 

 represented in the collection of Dr. Van Patten from Guatemala. It was 

 also found at Pirico, in Colombia, South America, liy IMr. C. W. AVyatt. 

 It occurs in abundance as far to the west as Grinnell, Iowa, where Mr. 

 W. H. Parker found it to be a very common summer resident. 



