574 MICHIGAN IMRD LIFE. 



May 11, but at the Agricultural College, Ingham county, it usiuilly arrives 

 before the 10th of the month, dates ranging from May 2 to 10. On the 

 return trip it has been taken at Kalamazoo Septe-mber 3, 1878, ami at 

 points in the middle of the state from September 10 to 30. Individuals 

 were killed on Spectacle Reef Lighthouse, Lake Huron, Se])tember 24, 

 1889 and October 3, 1893. N. A. Wood found it on the Charity Islands, 

 Saginaw Bay, after September 25, 1910. Mr. J. Claire Wood gives his 

 latest record for Wayne county as October 8, 1905. Although seldom 

 an abundant bird it can almost always be found at the proper season, and 

 sometimes is fairly numerous for a few days during migration. 



In general habits, nesting and food, this species very closely resembles 

 the Yellow-throated Vireo, and the song, at least in many instances, is 

 also very similar. It is usually described, however, as a feebler and shorter 

 song, but the notes are equally sweet and clear. Dr. Brewer states that 

 the song "bears no resemblance to that of any other vireo. It is a pro- 

 longed and very peculiar ditty, repeated at frequent intervals and always 

 identical. It begins with a lively and pleasant warble of a gradually 

 ascending scale which at a certain pitch breaks down into a falsetto note. 

 The song then rises again in a single high note and ceases." After reading 

 this description one cannot but believe that Dr. Brewer has described the 

 song of an individual Blue-headed Vireo, whose performance was decidedly 

 unusual. 



The nest is similar to that of the Yellow-throated Vireo and is commonly 

 placed at heights varying from two to twenty feet from the ground. Like 

 most vireo nests the exterior is often ornamented with bits of bark, moss, 

 cocoons and other conspicuous materials. The eggs are practically indis- 

 tinguishable from those of the Red-eye and Yellow-throat and average 

 .79 by .57 inches. According to Bicknell it is one of the few migrants 

 which are regularly in song while passing in the fall. 



Prof. Aughey, of Nebraska, examined a stomach of this bird in June 

 1865, which contained about an equal quantity of Rocky Mountain locusts 

 and other insects. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Bill slightly hooked at tip; rictal bristles evident; spurious first primary present; two 

 white wing-bars. 



Adult (sexes alike): Top and sides of head ash-gray with a bluish east; rest of upper 

 parts rather bright olive-green, brightest on rump and upper tail-coverts, grayer on hind " 

 neck and back; a broad white streak from nostril to eye, and a white ring surrounding the 

 eye; lores mostly dusky; sides and flanks oHve-green, more or less streaked with yellow; 

 wings dusky or dark gray, with two white or yellowish bars, and the tertiaries margined 

 with the same; tail dusky, the outer feathers with outer web mostly pure white, the inner 

 web narrowly white-edged; bill bluish-black; iris brown. 



Length 5 to 6 inches; wing 2.90 to 3; tail 2.10 to 2.20; culmen .40 to .45. 



260. White-eyed Vireo. Vireo griseus griseus (Bodd.). (631) 



Synonyms: White-eyed Greenlet. — Tanagra grisea, Boddaert, 1783. — Muscicapa 

 noveboracensis, Gmel., 1788.— Vireo noveboracensis, Bonap., 1824, and most other writers. 

 — Muscicapa cantatrix, Wils., 1810. 



Very similar in appearance to the Blue-headed Vireo, but decidedly 

 smaller and with yellow lores and eye-ring instead of white. The iris, 

 however, in the adult bird is always white, whence the name. 



Distribution.— Eastern United States, west to the Rocky Mountains; 



