WESTERN BIRDS Vireo 



I cannot help but feel grateful to this Warbling Vireo 

 because most of the western species are so nondescript 

 as to be most maddening, while this bird has a light line 

 through the eye, which the others have not. The song, 

 too, is different and helpful. They are five inches long; 

 olive-gray upper parts; no wing bars; dull white under 

 parts which are sometimes washed with olive-yellow on 

 sides ; light line down the eye, but no dark line through it. 



GENUS LANIVIREO: CASSIN'S VIREO. 



Gassin's Vireo: Lanivireo solitarius cdssini. 

 FAMILY— VIREOS. 



Cassin's Vireo is the western representative of the 

 Blue-headed, which is not found on this coast. It is a 

 summer visitor and while sometimes seen as it passes 

 through the valleys, one must go to the mountains to get 

 well acquainted with it. 



It resembles the eastern form, the blue-gray head with 

 the white eye ring, lores, and throat make it distinctive 

 as it peers at you from its leafy home. It is about five 

 inches long, the back is dull olive, wings have two clear 

 white bands, and under parts are white, washed with 

 olive and yellow on sides. The young in first winter are 

 dull grayish-brown above, and dull buffy below. 



Sometimes these birds are found as high as 7000 feet, 

 in the mountain canyons they frequent, nesting in white 

 oaks and conifers, although cottonwoods and alders are 

 used as nesting sites. In fact, I once found a nest on a 

 frail limb of a bay tree which grew near a rushing moun- 

 tain stream. It was a flat, shallow nest, quite different 

 from that of the Hutton's Vireo, although hung between 

 two supports in true Vireo fashion. The nesting bird 

 was not afraid but was very quiet and not once did I 



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