VIREOS 



lo: 



BLUE-HEADED VIREO 



Lanivireo solitarius solitarius {irHson) 



Other Names. — Solitary Vireo ; Blue-headed Green- 

 let. 



General Description. — Length, 5'4 inches. Fore 

 parts, .^late : upper parts, olive-green; under parts, wliitc. 



Color. — Adults: Croicn. hiinliu-cl,-, sides of lu-ck. 

 regions around the ears and under the eyes, and 

 cheeks, slate-color or dee/^ slate-gray, deepening into 

 slate-blackish on Ijack portion of lores ; front and 

 upper portions of lores and broad eye-ring (interrupted 

 in the front by blackish loral mark), white; back, 

 shoulders, rump, and upper tail-coverts, plain olive- 

 green, the first usually intermixed with slate-gray; 

 wings and tail, slate-blackish with light olive-green edg- 

 ings, the outermost tail-feathers with outer web, white; 

 middle and greater wing-coverts, broadly tipped with 

 yellowish-white or pale sulphur-yellow, forming two 



sulphur-yellow, yellowish-white, or white faintly tinged 

 with yellow ; under wing-coverts pale sulphur-yellow ; 

 inner webs of wing- and tail-feathers edged with white; 

 hill, black; iris, deep brown; legs and feet, grayish- 

 blue. Young: Similar to adults but duller in color, 

 with gray of head much tinged with brown, olive-green 

 of back, browner, and white of under parts less pure. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Pendant, in terminal forks 

 of horizontal branches within lo feet of ground; con- 

 structed of bark strips, leaves, weed stems, and cater- 

 pillar cocoons and firmly fastened witli vegetable- 

 strings and hair and lined with fine grasses. Kr.c.^ : 

 3 to 5, white or creamy, spotted with umber and chest- 

 nut, chiefly around large end. 



Distribution. — Eastern North America: north to 

 Prince Edward Island, Keewatin, Athabasca, and 



■ing by R. I. Brasher 



BLUE-HEADED VIREO ij i 

 Early to arrive in the spring and ofte 



remarkably tame 



distinct bands ; wing-quills with outer webs broadly 

 edged with yellowish-white or pale sulphur-yellow; 

 chin, throat, and middle under parts of body, white; 

 sides and flanks, mi.xed sulphur-yellow and olive-green- 

 ish, in broad, ill-detnied stripes ; under tail-coverts, pale 



southern Mackenzie; west to border of the Great 

 Plains ; breeding southward to Connecticut, Pennsyl- 

 vania, and North Dakota; wintering in the Gulf States, 

 Cuba, and southward through eastern Mexico to 

 Guatemala. 



He whose ears are attuned to the harmonies of 

 nattire may find the Bkie-headed or Solitary 

 \'irco on warm April days or in early May in 

 the wooded regions of most of the northeastern 

 States. It may be recognized by its bltiish head, 

 the white ring around the eye, and the pure white 

 throat. It heralds its presence at this time bv its 

 wild sweet song, a charming cadence of the 

 woiidcd wilderness. Its notes seem more spirit- 

 ual and less commonplace than those of the 

 familiar V'ireos of village and farmstead. 



The bird itself is no more solitary in migra- 



tion than other \'ireos, although it is not numer- 

 otis or gregarious, but in the nesting season it 

 seeks the cool and grateful shade of pine or hem- 

 lock trees. It does not avoid mankind but dwells 

 near him only when he lives in its favorite forest 

 retreats. Like some other species it has proved 

 so confiding at times as to allow a jierson to 

 stroke its back as it sat on its beautiful pensile 

 nest. 



This Vireo is one of the conservators of the 

 forest — a caterpillar hunter of renown — one of 

 a number of arboreal birds which guard the trees 



