158 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



always pensile, but Audubon speaks of one fastened to the 

 trunk of a tree, in which situation I have never found it, so 

 far as I remember. The eggs of the Warbling Vireo are white, 

 with a few "reddish-black" or brown spots at the larger end, 

 and average about •TYX'-'iS of an inch. A set of four or five 

 is laid near Boston in the first week of June. 



(c). The Warbling Vireos reach Eastern Massachusetts in 

 .the second week of May, and leave it in the same week of 

 September. They are common in many parts of our State, 

 and I have seen them in Northern New Hampshire, but in 



Fig. 6. Warbliug Vireo (|). 



some localities they are very rare. Though they do not, I 

 think, show quite so much familiarity towards man (at least 

 here), as some authors have represented, j'et they are certainly 

 to be found, to some extent, in cities, towns, villages, and. 

 thickly populated neighborhoods — for instance among the elms 

 of Boston Common. Though occasionally seen in the haunts 

 of the Yellow-throated Vireos (B), they seem to be particularly 

 fond of rows of, or solitary, elms, poplars, and basswood trees 

 — particularly those beside roads or near houses. They usu- 

 ally remain among the higher branches as they search for 

 insects ; and, on account of their size and quiet colors, they 

 might easily be overlooked, were it not for their music. 



(cl). Their ordinary notes are like those of the Red-eyed 

 Vireos, but less loud and querulous. Their song is exquisitely 

 sweet, and, though quite distinct, recalls vividly that of the 

 Purple Finch (§ 15, III). Dr. Coues, in speaking of the War- 



