BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 285 



259 [626] Vireo philadelphicus (Cass.). 

 Philadelphia Vireo. 



Very rare transient visitor. 



Although there is only one record for the County and only three others for 

 the State, — all autumnal records, — it seems probable that the Philadelphia 

 Vireo may in reality be less rare than it appears, as it breeds only a short dis- 

 tance to the north, about Lake Umbagog and northwestward across New 

 Hampshire. The fact that its song so closely resembles that of the common 

 Red-eyed Vireo would lead one to pass the bird by in the spring. 



The only record ^ for the County is of a male taken by me on September 

 1 8th, 1879, at Magnolia. The bird was found feeding in some bushes by the 

 side of a road. Its stomach contained besides insects, a number of large seeds 

 and berries. Records of twenty-two stomachs of the other Vireos all showed 

 nothing but insects. I have recently given the specimen to the Peabody 

 Academy, at Salem, in whose collection of Essex County birds it now has a 

 place. 



The only other records ^ for the State are : one taken at Cambridge on 

 September 7th, 1875; one at Brookline in September, 1881 (?) ; and one at 

 Cambridge, September 27th, 1894. 



260 [627] Vireo gilvus (Vieill.). 

 Warbling Vireo. 



Common summer resident ; May 5 to September. 



E^^s : June 1 1 . 



The Warbling Vireo may be often heard, rarely seen, in the lofty branches 

 of the American elms that line the roadways of the old Esse.x County towns. 



IC. W. Townsend : Bull. Nuttall Om. Club, vol. 5, p. 53, 1880. 



2R. H. Howe, Jr., and G. M. Allen: The Birds of Massachusetts, p. 86, 1901. 



