THE RED-EYED VIREO. 359 



of Cambridge, Mass., at the Little Dalles, in tliis State^. Mr. Lyman Belding, 

 the veteran ornithologist, of Stockton, Cal., advises me, however, that this 

 A'ireo was first seen by his friend. Dr. J. W. Williams, of Walla Walla, on 

 June 4 and 24. 1885, and that six specimens were taken. Dr. Merrill, writing 

 in 1897'', records them as abundant summer visitors at Fort Sherman, Idaho; 

 and Fannin notes their occurrence ui)on \"ancouver Island. Messrs. C. \V. and 

 J. H. Bowles met with tliis species in the Puyallup A'alley on June 2^, 1899, 

 when they saw and heard at least half a dozen. Mr. Bowles and I were con- 

 stantl}' on the Idokout fr)r tliis bird during our East-side trip in May and June, 

 1906, but we failed to observe it in either Spokane or Stevens Counties. \Ve 

 found it first in a wooded spur of the Grand Coulee on June 13th; then com- 

 monly at Chelan, where it nested ; and also at the head of Lake Chelan with 

 Cassin V'ireos right alongside. And now comes the announcement of its 

 breeding at Kirkland where Miss Jennie \'. Getty took two sets in the season 

 of 1908. 



The truth is, the Cassin Vireo has so long occupied the center of the 

 stage here in the Northwest, that we may never know whether his cousin. Red- 

 eye, stole a march on us from o\-er the Rockies, or was here for a century 

 grieving at our dullness of perception. In habit the two species are not unlike, 

 and their ordinary notes do not advertise diiiferences, even to the mildly olj- 

 servant. Those of the Red-eye are, however, higher in pitch, less mellow and 

 soft in quality, and are rendered with more sprightliness of manner. Its solil- 

 ocjuizing notes are often uttered — always in single phrases of from two to four 

 syllables each — while the bird is busily hunting, and serve to mark an overflow 

 of good spirits rather than a studied attempt at song. His best eft'orts are 

 given to the entertaining of his gentle spouse when she is brooding upon the 

 nest. A bird u< which I once listened at midday, in Ohio, had chosen for his 

 station the topmost bare twig of a beech tree a hundred feet from the ground, 

 and from this elevated position he poured out his soul at the rate of some fifty 

 phrases per minute, and without internfission during the half lnjur he was 

 under observation. 



So thorol}' possessed does our little hero become with the spirit of poesy, 

 that wlien he takes a turn upon the nest he indulges, all unmindful of the dan- 

 ger, in frequent outbursts of song. Both birds are closely attached to the home, 

 about which center their fears and their hopes ; and well thev mav be, for it is 

 a beautiful structure in itself. The nest is a semipensile cui). Ixiund firmlv by 

 its edges to a small fork near the end of some horizontal branch of tree or bush, 

 and usually at a height not exceeding five or ten feet. It is composed largely of 

 fibers from weed-stalks, and fine strips of cedar or clematis bark, which also 

 forms what little lining there is. A curious characteristic of the entire \'ireo 



a. The .\uk. Vol. IX.. Oct., 1892. p. 396. 



b. The .Auk, Vol. XV., Jan., 1898, p. 18. 



