io8 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



against the too destructive attacks of quickly 

 multiplying scaly-winged hosts. 



Edward Howe Forbusii. 



There are in North America four regional 

 varieties of the Blue-headed Vireo. The Moun- 



' by J. Alden Lonng 



BLUE-HEADED VIREO 

 d is one of the conservators of the 



tain, or Mountain Solitary, Vireo {Lanivireo 

 solitariiis alticola) is larger and slightly darker in 

 coloration, with the back more often mixed with 

 gray and sometimes with more gray than olive- 

 green ; it breeds in the Alleghenies from western 

 Maryland to eastern Tennessee and northern 

 Georgia and winters in the lowlands from South 

 Carolina to Florida. The Plumbeous Vireo [Lani- 

 virco solitariiis plnmbciis) of the southern Rocky 

 Mountain Region is very similar to the Mountain 

 X'ireo, but its back and shoulders are entirely 

 gray, the rump and upper tail-coverts gray, 

 tinged with olive-green and its sides and flanks 

 are much more faintly washed with yellow ; it 

 breeds from northern Nevada, northern Utah, 

 northeastern Wyoming and southwestern South 

 Dakota south through i\rizona and southwestern 

 Texas to the mountains of Mexico. Cassin's 

 Vireo (Lanivirco solitariiis cassini) is much like 

 the Blue-headed Vireo but averages slightly 

 smaller and much duller in color ; it breeds from 

 central British Columbia, southwe:^tern Alberta, 

 and western Montana south through California 

 and western Nevada to the San Pedro Martir 

 Alountains, Lower California; in migration it is 

 found in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New 

 Mexico, and in winter in Mexico. The San Lucas, 

 or San Lucas Solitary, Vireo (Lanivirco soli- 

 tariiis Iiicasaniis) is like Cassin's Vireo but smaller 

 and with decidedly larger bill and with more 

 yellow and less olive on the sides and flanks ; it 

 is a resident of the Cape San Lucas region of 

 Lower California. 



BLACK-CAPPED VIREO 



Vireo atricapillus ]]'oodlioiise 



A, O. U. Number 630 



Other Name. — Black-capped Greenlet. 



General Description. — Length, 4% inches. Fore 

 parts, black; upper parts, olive-green; under parts, 

 white. 



Color. — Lores and a broad eye-ring, white, the latter 

 interrupted on upper eyelid ; rest of head and neck, 

 except cliin and throat, uniform black (oldest birds?) 

 or black and slate-gray (younger birds?) ; back, 

 shoulders, rump, upper tail-coverts, and lesser wing- 

 coverts, clear olive-green ; wings (except lesser coverts) 

 and tail, dull black or dusky with light olive-green edg- 

 ings ; the middle and greater wing-coverts broadly 

 tipped with pale yellow, forming two conspicuous bands 



across wing ; under parts, including chin and throat, 

 white, passing into light olive-yellow or pale yellowish 

 olive-green on sides and flanks ; under wing-coverts 

 sulphur or primrose-yellow ; bill, black ; iris, brownish- 

 red ; legs and feet, grayish-blue. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest; Usually suspended from 

 forks of elm, oak. or mesquite saplings, within 6 feet of 

 the ground; a perfectly woven structure of bark strips, 

 grasses, skeleton leaves, spiders' webs, and caterpillar 

 silk. Eggs: 3 to 4, pure white, unmarked. 



Distribution. — Southwestern Kansas southward 

 through Oklahoma and west-central Texas; southward 

 in winter to Mexico, as far as State of Sinaloa. 



