LAND BIRDS. 5G5 



AA. Without a spurious first ijrimary. D, DD. 



D. Two white wing-bars, throat bright yellow. Yellow-throated 



Vireo. No. 258. 

 DD. No white wing-bars. E, EE. 



E. Throat pure white, wing over three inches. Red-eved Vireo. 



No. 255. 

 EE. Throat pale vellow, wing less than three inches. Philadelphia 

 Vireo. No. 256. 



255. Red-eyed Vireo. Vireosylva olivacea {Linn.). (624) 



Synonyms: Red-eyed (ireenlet, Little Hang-nest, Preacher. — Muscicapa olivacea, 

 Linn., 1766, Wilson, ISIO, Bonap., 1824. — Vireo olivaceus, Nutt., Aud., A. O. U. Check- 

 list, 1886, and most authors. 



Plate LVII and Figures 132, 133. _ 



In living or freshly killed birds the red iris is distinctive. Other points 

 are the absence of wing-bars, lack of spurious first primary, large size, 

 and pure Avhite under parts. 



Distribution. — Eastern North America, west to Colorado, Utah and British 

 Columbia; north to the Arctic regions; south in winter from Florida to 

 northern South America. Breeds nearly throughout its North American 

 range. 



All things considered this is probably our most alnmdant vireo and it 

 is found as a summer visitor ever^^where throughout the state, being much 

 more abundant, however, in some sections than others. 

 In the southern part of the state it arrives from the 

 south about the first of May (Detroit April 28 to May 

 7, Swales); in the northern part from two to three weeks 

 later; and departs in early September. In the southern 

 part of the state it lingers late in the fall, most individuals 

 tarrying until after the middle of September and occa- Red-eyed vireo 

 sionally well into October. Mr. Swales noted one near 

 Detroit October 16, 1899. This is one of the birds which often meets 

 death at the lighthouses along the lakes and there are fourteen records 

 of such disasters at Spectacle Reef, in Lake Huron, the autumn dates 

 ranging from September 10, 1895 to October 7, 1893. 



It nests everywhere in the state and the neat cup-shaped swinging nest 

 is a famihar object on the bare trees and bushes of midwinter and has 

 given the bird the common name of "Little Hangnest." It seems probable 

 that at least two broods are reared in a season, since in the Lower Peninsula 

 fresh eggs may be found from about May 20 until late in June, while oc- 

 casional nests are found all through July and sometimes in August. Pcet 

 found a pair feeding nearly full grown young July 14, 1905, on Isle Royale. 



The nest is placed usuall}- within a few feet of the ground, often within 

 arm's reach, but occasionally twenty or twenty-five feet up. It is always 

 pensile, usually hung in the lateral fork of a small twig, and commonly 

 in plain sight. It is built of various flexible materials, largely strips of 

 bark, fibres from weed stems or various grasses, and is lined with finer 

 plant fibres and fine leaves and grasses, often with pine needles. The 

 exterior is often decorated with egg cocoons of spiders, bits of caterpillars' 

 silk, pieces of birch bark, and even fragments of paper and other con- 



