242 BULLETIN 197, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



VIREO HUTTONI HUTTONI Cassin 



HUTTON'S VIREO 



HABITS 



The typical form of Hiitton's vireo inhabits the Pacific slope, from 

 Vancouver Island southward through Washington, Oregon, and 

 California, west of the high Sierras, to about latitude 30° in north- 

 western Lower California. Two other races have been described from 

 Vancouver Island and from Washington, but they are not now recog- 

 nized on the A. O. U. Check-list. 



Throughout most of its range, it seems to be partial to the growths 

 of the evergreen oaks, where it lives at all seasons. As Clark C. Van 

 Fleet (1919) says: "One always associates the Hutton Vireo in his 

 mind with the live oaks. I always think of this little fellow as the 

 spirit of the live oak tree. The tree stationary, unconscious until 

 livened hj its spirit, in whose unfolding bosom the spirit lives and 

 dies." 



Howard L. Cogswell writes to me : "This vireo is much less common 

 ill the Los Angeles area than farther north around Santa Barbara, 

 where it is found at all times in every small canyon or oak region. In 

 the Pasadena area there are five or six oak areas on the outskirts of 

 the city in each of which one or two are found regularly. I have also 

 seen Hiitton's in the broader mountain canyons in sycamore, maple, and 

 oak associations, in the tall chaparral of Griffith Park, Los Angeles, 

 and in tlie willow regions along the lowland streams." 



Grinnell and Storer (1924) write : "Four species of vireos or 'green- 

 lets' are found in different portions of the Yosemite section during the 

 summer months but only one, the Hutton Vireo, remains in the region 

 through the winter as well. This vireo is almost exclusively an in- 

 habitant of the live oaks and golden oaks and this choice of habitat is 

 doubtless the basis for the continuance of the bird here during the 

 winter months. These 'evergeen' oaks furnish forage in the form of 

 insects throughout the year, as is shown by the number of warblers and 

 kinglets which resort to these trees during the colder months. The 

 Hutton Vireo, by being restricted to this type of tree, is assured of food 

 in all seasons, and does not need to migrate." 



Ralph Hoffmann (1927) designates its habitat as "in the live oaks 

 west of the Sierras and in j'oung firs west of the Cascades." Samuel 

 F. Rathbun tells me that it is a resident throughout the year in west- 

 ern Washington, and "is most often to be found in or about the dense 

 second growth of conifers that are of considerable size." 



Nestrng. — Mr. Van Fleet (1919) gives the following good account 

 of the nesting habits of Hutton's vireo in Sonoma County, Calif. : 



About the first and second weeks in March home-building is begun. The 

 site being properly chosen, both birds begin the task. The round, deep-cupped 



