i^n'^ 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



$1.00 pur 

 Annum. 



PUBLISHED nv FRANK B. WEBSTEU. 

 Kstublished, March, 1875. 



Single Copy 

 10 Cents. 



VOL. XIII. 



BOSTON, MASS., AUGUST, i888. 



No. 8. 



Nest and Eggs of the Mountain Soli- 

 tary Vireo. 



in WIII.IAM liKKWSTKU. 



I am iiulcbted to Mr. J. S. (.'aims for tlie val- 

 uable ^ift of a nest autl set of ejrjjs of the 

 Mouiilalii Solitary Vireo ( I'/yvo sDlitan'iis alti- 

 cuhi), — the tirst ideiititied speciiiieus, 1 believe, 

 that Jiave ever been taken, aecomijanied Ijy tlie 

 skins of both llie parent birds. 



The nest was found May 27. 1SS7, on Craggy 

 Mt., Buncombe Co., North Carolina. It was in 

 a chestnut, ten feet out from the main trunk, 

 ami about twenty feet above the ground, and 

 eonlained four perfectly fresh eggs. These 

 measure respectively .84x.49; .7Sx..^S; .78 x 

 .■)S and .80 x ."jS. 'I'hey are ovate to elongate 

 ovate in shape; in color pure white witli a few 

 fine spots, and rather numerous, minute dots of 

 brown varying in tone from vandyUe to seal 

 brown. To tlie naked eye tlieir shells appear 

 smooth and slightly polished but under a mag- 

 nifying glass they show numerous shallow pits 

 and occasional short, straight or wavy ridges. 



The nest is a substantial structui-e susijended, 

 of course, after the usual Vireo fashion, in the 

 forks of a slender terminal twig. It measuies 

 externally 3.2,") in diameter by 2.10 in depth. 

 In places the rim is nearly an inch in thickness. 

 The exterior is beautifully diversitied with 

 white and purplish-brown sheep's wool, gray- 

 ish lichens, small strips and fragments of de- 

 cayed wood, and a few spider's cocoons, bound 

 firmly to, or hanging loosely from, the frame- 

 work proper, which is composed of coarse gi'ass 

 stalks and stiips of bark, tin; l.-itter partly a 

 reddish-colored imier bai-k, probably from the 

 hemlock, but largely the pale gold, sheeny out- 

 er bark of the yellow birdi, (/>. lutcii). The 

 interior cavity is lined with fine bleached 

 grasses and the reddish st(mis of some species 

 of club moss. 



Upon comparing this nest with four New 

 England nests of V. solit'trins I find that it is 

 much larger, with thicker walls and more elab- 

 orate external decorations. The eggs also are 

 larger and finer si)otted than any of the series 



•ollection. 



Nesting of the Mountain Solitary 

 Vireo. 



\i\ 1!. li. MC I.Al (UII.IX, STATKSV1I>LK, K. C. 



Until June 2, 1888, the day on which I found 

 my first nest, I considered the Mountain Soli- 

 tary Vireo (Virvo KdUtarius aUifuhi) a rare mi- 

 grant. I was very anxious to secure a specimen, 

 but saw only two birds during the spring mi- 

 gration, and was without my gun on each 

 occasion. 



The body of woods in which I found the 

 nests consists wholly of pines, is high and dry, 

 and, after the I'ine Warblers (Duntlra-ai pinas) 

 have quit building, has little to attract the 

 oologist. My hope on June 2nd was to find 

 some nests of the Louisiana Water Thrush (Si- 

 urus motaciUa) and, having previously planned 

 my route, I was on the nearest way to the 

 first stream, which led me through these pines, 

 when I heard, and inunediately recognized, the 

 song of V. s. alticola. I had seen a single imli- 

 vidual there in March, and at once realized that 

 the bird had been nesting near. I followed up 

 the notes in order to get a view of the bird, not 

 with any thought of looking for its nest, how- 

 ever. 



Having located the bird, I had been watching 

 him but a short time when a pause in his song 

 and a low musical note announced the arrival 

 of his mate. Turning my attention to the fe- 

 mal3 I saw her step upon the side of her nest, 

 which was suspended from a pine limb, and 

 after drawing some webs across the bottom 

 part and along the sides she got down in it. 



Copyright, 1888, hy F. H. Carpenter and F. B. Webster. 



