398 VIREOS 



Nest. — Hung- in thickets, in bushes, or small trees, 2 to 6 feet from the 

 ground, made of dry leaves, cocoons, and spiders' webs, lined with fibers of 

 grass and bark. Eggs : usually 8, plain white. 



Food. — (3 stomachs) caterpillars. 



At Pecos High Bridge, in the bottom of the Pecos River canyon, 

 which rang with the songs of an hepatic tanager, canyon wrens, and 

 cardinals, we were delighted to find the rare little spectacled black- 

 cap actually common, adding his loud song to the rich canyon 

 chorus. His song was unusually varied for a vireo, though of the 

 general character of the white-eye or bellii type rather than that of 

 gilvus. One song contained a run, and its last notes were liquid, 

 loud, and emphatic, something like come here, right-now -quick' , or 

 there note, wait-a-hit. The alarm-note was hoarse. 



The calm deliberation of the vireo blood seems wanting in the 

 black-cap even though he does live in Texas. He hops about or 

 flies around in the most alert, energetic way. A pair were busy 

 building in a dense vine grown thicket against one of the canyon 

 walls, that is to say, the male was busy singing near by while his 

 mate worked on the nest, weaving spider web over the skeleton 

 leaves and cocoon cases. 



Though the black-caps are partial to ravines, Mr. Bailey found 

 them common on scrub-oak ridges about Kerrville, hunting low in 

 the scrub oaks and j unipers. 



631. Vireo noveboracensis (GmeL). White-eyed Vikeo. 



Adults. — Upper parts bright olive green, wings with two sharply 

 marked bands ; lores, forehead, and orbital ring bright yellow ; throat and 

 chest white, sides and flanks bright sulphur yellow. Young : olive gray, 

 greener posteriorly ; wings crossed with two bufipy bands ; under parts 

 white, buffy on flanks ; loral streak white. Length: 4.50-.").00, wing 2.35- 

 2.50, tail 1.90-2.10, bill from base .55-.58, bill from nostril .27-30, tarsus 

 .72-.78. 



Distribution. — Breeds in Upper and Lower Sonoran zones from New 

 England south to Louisiana and northern Texas, west to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains ; winters from Florida to Guatemala and Honduras. 



Nest. — Hung in bushes or vines, in thickets or along borders of woods 

 or swamps, seldom over 4 feet from the ground ; made of vegetable fibers, 

 leaves, mosses, and lichens, lined with stems of weeds and grasses. Eggs : 

 4 or 5, white, lightly spotted with purple and reddish brown around the 

 larger end. 



Food. — Insects and their larvae. 



The white-eyed vireo ranges west as far as the Rocky Mountains, 

 and in Kansas, Colonel Goss says, lives in thickets of briars and 

 vines on the low prairies, and also on the edges of woods bordering 

 streams and swamps. In Bermuda, where its jolly little relative 

 abounds, it is known as the ' chick of the village,' and its song is 

 rendered as Chick-a-dee-chick' -de-villet. 



