274 BULLETIN 19 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



greater part of the contents; two beetles {Acmaeodera neglecta and 

 Pachy'brachys) complete the list." 



Behavior. — Grinnell and Swarth (1913) found the species a constant 

 accompaniment of the belts of the two species of chaparral bushes, 

 Adenostoma sfarsifollum and A. fascieulatum. They say: "While 

 adhering closely to the cover of these plants, it foraged also through 

 scrub oak, manzanita, and ceanothus, occasionally into four-leafed 

 pifion {Pinus parry ana) or sagebrush {Artemisia tndentata). The 

 forage depth of this vireo is between one and five feet above the ground, 

 rarely any higher. A person may follow a bird around for twenty 

 minutes, keeping track of it by the oft-repeated song, without catching 

 a view of it above the level of the chaparral tops." 



Grinnell (1922) witnessed a particularly interesting variation from 

 the foregoing of which he writes as follows: "From the bushes she 

 went into the pinyon tree before mentioned, and thence into the digger 

 pine, reaching the unusual height of some fifteen feet above the slope 

 at the base of the tree. Her head was turned from side to side at 

 frequent intervals, especially when she approached and eyed me 

 curiously at a range of not more than 12 feet." He also brought out 

 the fact that most of the time the tail drooped below the axis line of 

 the body. 



H. W. Henshaw (1875), finding adults with fledged young on 

 July 8, says : "The parents manifested the utmost solicitude, and flew 

 to meet me, uttering a variety of notes, now flying to the edge of the 

 thicket, and remonstrating with me with harsh cries of anger and 

 alarm, now returning to their young, and with earnest warning notes 

 endeavoring to lead them away from a spot which to them seemed 

 fraught with danger." The young were still dependent on the old 

 for food. 



W. E. D. Scott (1885) on May 26 found a "female sitting on the 

 nest, and the male singing in the bushes close at hand. The female 

 was very tame, and in order to see the interior of the nest I was obliged 

 to touch her with my fingers before she would leave her home. Several 

 times afterwards, in watching the progress of laying, I was obliged 

 to repeat this action, and once had to lift the bird out of the nest." 



J. Van Tyne and G. M. Sutton (1937) collected a pair in Brewster 

 County, Tex., and commented on three birds seen about "the habit of 

 flicking their long tail nervously as the gnatcatcher does." 



A. J. van Rossem (1932) speaks of the bird as "far from typical 

 of the family in habits for its quick, jerky movements and cocked-up 

 tail led us more than once to mistake it for a wren." 



Voice. — H. W. Henshaw (1875) says of the song, "One of the most 

 beautiful I had ever heard from any of the family," an opinion with 

 which the writer, who has heard nearly every species of vireo in 

 the United States, concurs. 



