132 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



The White-eyed and Solitary Vireos both have a strong 

 yellow tinge on the sides of the belly, bnt in the former 

 the line to and around the eye is yellow, while in the lat- 

 ter it is white. The White-eye is small and is rare north of 

 Connecticut ; the Solitary is larger and breeds in northern 

 New England, passing through southern New England and 

 the Hudson Valley before the White-eye arrives. 



Blue-headed Vireo ; Solitary Vireo. Vireo solitaries 



5.61 



Ad. — Top and sides of head dark slate-gray ; line from bill to 

 and around eye white ; back gray, with a greenish-yellow tinge in 

 strong light ; wing-bars white; throat and breast white; sides of 

 breast dark gray ; sides of belly greenish-yellow. 



Nest, a cup, hung from a fork in a horizontal branch. Eggs, 

 white, sparsely spotted with brown at the larger end. 



The Solitary Vireo is confined in summer to the Canadian 

 and the sub-Canadian areas, but is a common migrant 

 through the rest of New York and 

 New England, passing north in 

 the latter part of April and early 

 in May, and returning late in Sep- 

 tember and early in October. As 

 ^^ a migrant it frequents almost any 



Fig. 26. Solitary Vireo piece of woodland, often coming 

 into orchards and about houses. 

 It breeds in deep, cool woods, either evergreen or deciduous, 

 preferring possibly the former. It is much less common 

 than the Red-eye, and its voice is louder and richer, so that 

 as one passes along a woodland road, the Solitary Vireos 

 inhabiting the region are easily noted, and are found to be 

 separated by far greater intervals than the Red-eyes. The 

 song resembles that of the Red-eye in form, but it has a 

 sweeter, more appealing tone. Certain passages are charac- 

 teristic ; one is a "double note," that is a phrase repeated 



