436 Birds of Colorado 



and the inner secondaries ; middle and greater coverts tipped with 

 white, forming a double wing-bar ; below white, shghtly washed on 

 the sides and flanks with pale slaty-grey and a tinge of olive ; iris 

 brown, bill blackish, paler at the base of the lower mandible, legs 

 dusky. Length 5-30 ; wing 3-15 ; tail 2-25 ; cuhnen -45 ; tarsus -75. 



The sexes are alike ; yotmg birds are very similar to the adults, but 

 have the back more brownish. 



Distribution. — Breeding in the Rocky Mountains region from southern 

 Wyoming through Mexico to the State of Vera Cruz ; further south 

 in winter to Oaxaca. 



The Plumbeous Vireo is a fairly common summer bird in Colorado, 

 passing along the eastern bases of the moiuitains during migration, 

 and breeding chiefly in the moimtains up to about 10,000 feet. It 

 arrives from the south early in May — El Paso co. May 3rd, Allen & 

 Brewster — passes up into the moui^tains about the end of the month, 

 and breeds in June. The highest breeding locality seems to be 

 Breckenridge, 9,700 feet (Carter apud Cooke). Other localities are : 

 Loveland (Cooke), Estes Park (Kellogg), Boulder co. (Minot), Idaho 

 Springs (Trippe), South Park (Allen), Pueblo (Beckham), and Wet 

 Moimtains (Lowe). It does not seem to be recorded from the western 

 slopes or from the eastern plains hitherto. 



Habits. — This Vireo does not seem to be very different 

 in its habits from the others, except that it appears to 

 have a more decided hking for pine woods, in the recesses 

 of which it is often to be found. The nest was first 

 taken by Aiken in May, 1872, on Turkey Creek in El 

 Paso CO., and is described by lienshaw as composed 

 of soft cottony substances bound with strips of bark 

 and other fibrous material, and lined with fine grasses ; 

 the eggs, four or five in number, are white, spotted 

 chiefly at the larger end with reddish-brown. Fresh 

 clutches ma}'' be looked for from June 10th to June 25th 

 according to Gale's notes. Minot does not consider 

 its song so sweet as that of its eastern ally, the 

 Solitary Vireo. 



Genus VIREO. 



Small Vireos with the tenth (outer) primary well developed, always 

 more than one-third, often hah, the length of the ninth, the latter 

 shorter than the fourth. 



