8 THE WILSON QUARTERLY. 



After uttering a soft ciy of disappointment, she again 

 approached her nest. This time lighting upon a hranch 

 near hy. She carefully examined the nest and string, then 

 chirping a few syllables to her mate, entered the nest, 

 although somewhat dissatisfied with it. Her mate re- 

 mained near by, flying from branch to branch over head, 

 and expressing his sympathy in a few soft notes. At 

 length, as if to cheer her, he perched himself upon a twig 

 over head, and in the midst of that lonely wood, pealed 

 forth a clear, sweet song, making the whole scene very 

 pathetic. From their meek and innocent conduct, and 

 from the gratitude expressed by the song of the male upon 

 finding that the little home had not been altogether de- 

 stroyed, it somewhat moved my pity for having caused 

 these beautiful little creatures this needless distress. Had 

 they been defiant as a Kingbird or the like, one would not 

 be moved by the same sense of compassion. 



On May 17, I again visited the Vireo's nest and found 

 four eggs, which I took. The nest was placed in a pine 

 tree, as above stated, on a dead, horizontal limb, about ten 

 feet from the ground and six feet from the trunk. It was 

 suspended by the brim from a forked branch, and was 

 fastened to it by fine strips of fibrous bark and cobwebs. 

 It was rather light colored, composed of fine bark fiber, 

 mostly of the inner bark, intermingled with plant down 

 and spider's webs ; on one side was interwoven quite a piece 

 of newspaper, also several strips of the thin outer bark of 

 the white birch. The nest was well made and strongly at- 

 tached to the limb. It was lined with pine needles and 

 very fine dried grass. 



The eggs were of a light creamy color, with numerous 

 small chestnut-colored spots around the large end, in the 

 form of a wreath, some mingling into blotches. The 

 central area was marked with fine specks of dark brown, 

 almost black. A second nest was found on May 23. This 

 nest was likewise in a solitary, though beautiful spot in 

 the deep woods, and was suspended from the branch of a 

 tall laurel bush over a bed of green ferns growing around a 



