MOUNTAIN VIREO 307 



tions of 5,678 and 5,719 feet, respectively. These higher peaks reach 

 well into the Canadian Zone. These sunnnits seem, by their proximity, 

 to lend something of the Canadian Zone flavor to Shady Valley. 

 The flora of the valley smacks of the Canadian Zone. Originally the 

 bed of the valley was a cranberry bog. Overmuch 'civilization,' 

 W. P. A., etc., have drained and cleared it until, only by closest search 

 can any cranberry vines be found. The mountain vireo breeds in the 

 upper reaches of the Transition Zone and in the Canadian Zone." 



Mount Mitchell, in western North Carolina, is said to be the highest 

 mountain in the eastern half of the United States, rising 6,684 feet 

 above sea level ; it was once covered with a dense forest of tall red 

 spruce ; but logging and forest fires have destroyed all but a narrow 

 fringe of spruces at the summit. Thomas D. Burleigh (1941) found 

 the mountain vireo to be "a fairly plentiful breeding bird in the fir 

 and spruce woods at the top of the mountain. In the valleys the first 

 spring migrants appear during the latter part of March, but April 

 12 (1930) is the earliest that this species has been noted in the open 

 spruce woods (5,000 feet), and not until May 4 (1933) has the first 

 venturesome individual been seen at the top of the mountain (6,600 

 feet). The latest date for occurrence in the fall is September 30, 

 (1930)." 



Nesting. — Professor Brooks writes to me from West Virginia: 

 "Woodland openings, trailsides, picnic grounds, and such natural or 

 artificial disturbances of the forest are most frequently chosen as nest- 

 ing areas by these birds. Yellow birch is a favorite nesting tree, the 

 yellow-brown bark furnishing nesting material and, very often, an 

 effective concealing background for the nest. Nearly every nest I have 

 examined has contained fibers of birch bark. Nests are placed from 6 

 to 15 feet from the ground, usually just out of reach." 



Bruce P. Tyler tells me that, in his Shady Valley region, the nest 

 of the mountain vireo "is placed in the fork of the lower branches 

 of a tree or a fork of a low branch of undergrowth in the woodland. 

 It is more globular than the nests of the red-eyed or white-eyed vireo 

 and somewhat larger." He has sent me a fine photograph (pi. 38) 

 of a nest, taken in this valley on June 12, 1938. "This nest was 

 jDlaced in a red oak tree, 20 feet up and 7 feet out from the trunk of the 

 tree. It was made of grass, shredded bark and plant fiber and covered 

 with lichens, bound together with spider webs. The bird remained on 

 the nest until the limb which supported it was cut off." The nest con- 

 tained four eggs which had been incubated for three or four days. 



Pearson and the Brimleys (1942) say that, in the mountains of 

 North Carolina, "it breeds chiefly in deciduous trees." They record 

 nests in a chestnut, a small sourwood, another chestnut, and an oak. 



Mr. Burleigh (1925) seems to be satisfied that, in northeastern 

 Georgia, "two broods are raised each year, the first during the latter 



