BERMUDA VIREO 239 



it is wider below; the imier cup is nearly two inches deep. It is 

 thick-walled and made of various plant fibers, palmetto shreds, coarse 

 mosses and lichens, strips of inner bark, many dead and bleached 

 leaves, and some wool and spider nests, all bound with very fine 

 fibers and spider silk; it is lined with very fine grasses. 



There are three nests of this vireo, containing three or four eggs 

 each, in the Doe collection in the University of Florida, all of which 

 came from Key West. One was collected by J. W. Atkins on May 

 4, 1885, in a pendent fork of a bush, 5 feet up. The other two were 

 taken by Mr. Doe on June 26, 1939, and on June 18, 191:0 ; both of these 

 were in myrtle bushes, 3 feet and 5 feet above the ground, respectively, 

 one on the edge of a golf course and the other on the edge of a road- 

 way. The latter he describes as "a beautiful pure white nest plas- 

 tered with fine bark." He says in his notes that the nests of the 

 Key West vireo "are the most beautiful of the species, but hard to lo- 

 cate in the thick foliage. Key West was a paradise for birds, but 

 now gone, as all this country has been taken over for war purposes." 



Eggs. — The Key West vireo incubates two to four eggs, probably 

 most often three. These are similar to those of the common white- 

 eyed vireo. What few I have seen are ovate and lusterless white, 

 with a very few small spots and fine dots of very dark brown 

 near the larger end. The measurements of 26 eggs average 18.5 by 

 13.9 millimeters ; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 19.9 by 

 14.0, 18.17 by 14.9, and 17.5 by 13.2 millimeters. 



The molts, plumages, food, behavior, voice, etc., are apparently very 

 similar to those of the species elsewhere. 



VIREO GRISEUS BERMUDIANUS Bangs and Bradlee 

 BERMUDA VIREO 



HABITS 



Bangs and Bi-adlee (1901) named and described this race of the 

 white-eyed vireos as follows : 



In genei'ul similar to Y. noveboracensis (Gmel.). Vv'ing much sliorter (the 

 wing of V. noveboracensis often reaching 65 mm. in length) [in bermudianus 

 it is less than 60 mm.]; tarsus longer; general coloration much grayer, less 

 yellow and olivaceous. The color varies much individually ; in extreme examples 

 the whole upper parts are olive gray, only slightly shaded with olive green on 

 rump and sides of interscapulum ; the supra-loral region pale grayish yellow ; 

 wings and tail edged with olive gray ; lower surface dull grayish white, sides 

 and tlanks olive gray faintly tinged with dull olive green ; wing-bands pure white. 

 The other extreme approaches more nearly to V. noveboracensis except that the 

 back and head are always much more suffused with olive gray, and the sides 

 and flanks always dull olive green, not sulphur-yellow. The usual style of 

 coloration is about halfway between these extreme examples. * * * 



The notes and song of V. bermudianus are not at all the same as those of 

 V. noveboracensis. The usual note is a harsh scolding or querulous mew, often 

 varied to a clear warble — chic-hd-chic-a-cJioo-choo-iceeoo; cMc-choo-choo-weeoo- 



