310 BULLETIN 197, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona, we found it fairly common in all 

 the wooded canyons up to 7,000 feet, and less common among the pines 

 at 8,000 or 9,000 feet near the summits. We saw the first one in the 

 Chiricahuas on April 26, 1922. Mr. Swarth (1904) says that, in the 

 Huachucas, it is quite abundant in all parts of the mountains during 

 the spring migration, but not so numerous during the summer. In his 

 paper on Arizona mountain birds. Dr. Edgar A. Mearns (1890) writes : 



By its loud song this species is known to be a common denizen of the pine 

 forests of this region ; but it keeps so near the pine-tops as to be seldom seen, 

 save by tracing to their source the sweet notes one almost constantly hears 

 when riding through these grand forests it being one of the most persistent singers 

 that I have met with. It often visits the spruce woods of the higher zone, a few 

 perhaps breeding there. 



In New Mexico, Mrs. Bailey (1928) records it as breeding as low 

 as 6,000 feet in the Guadalupe Mountains, and as high as 8,000 feet 

 "in the coldest part of the Zuni Mountains." 



Russell K. Grater writes to me from Zion National Park, Utah: 

 "This is one of the commonest birds in the park during the summer 

 months. Its habitat in the canyons is mainly confined to the boxelder 

 and other broadleaf trees; here among these trees nesting birds are 

 closely distributed for miles along the canyon floor." 



Nesting. — On May 26, 1922, in a branch of Ramsay Canyon, in the 

 Huachucas, we found a nest of the plumbeous vireo with the bird 

 sitting on it ; it was about 6 feet from the ground at the tip of a lower 

 branch of a small oak growing on the steep mountainside that rose 

 sharply from the bed of the canyon. I tried to photograph it, but the 

 bird would not let me get near enough for a good picture. I was 

 surprised to find the nest empty. The bird would not return to the 

 nest in front of the camera; but after the camera was removed, she 

 promptly returned and settled on the nest as if incubating. My com- 

 panion, Frank C. Willard, collected this nest, with a set of four nearly 

 fresh eggs, on Jiin.e 4 and sent it to me. This nest, now before me 

 in its faded condition, must have been a very pretty nest when fresh. 

 The framework, presumably of the usual materials used by vireos, 

 is entirely concealed externally by a great variety of mosses, lichens, 

 and bits of plant down of varied colors, firmly interwoven with and 

 secured in place by narrow strands of fine inner bark, probably cedar, 

 other very fine fibers, numerous bits of fine string and apparently only 

 a little spider silk; these materials completely envelope and conceal 

 the two supporting twigs. It is neatly lined with very fine, yellowish 

 grass tops, from which the seeds had been removed. Its external 

 dimensions are 4 by 31^ in diameter and over 2 inches in depth (it was 

 probably flattened some in packing) ; the inner cavity measures about 

 2y2 in diameter at the top and V^ inches in depth; the walls are 

 nearly an inch thick in some places. 



