372 NOETH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Dr. Cooper states that its nests are pendent from the forks of a branch 

 high above the ground, sometimes to the height of a hundred feet. 



jNIr. Eidgway, who observed the habits of this species in Utah and Ne- 

 vada, speaks of it as the characteristic Vireo of the West. It was found by 

 him in all the fertile localities, and was one of the most common birds in the 

 wooded regions. He found it very generally distributed 'through the sum- 

 mer, inhabiting the copses along the streams of the mountain canons, and 

 the open groves of the parks, as well as the cottonwoods and willows of the 

 river valleys. In the fall the berries of a species of the cornel that grows 

 along the mountain streams constitute its principal food. Its notes and man- 

 ners are identical with those of the Eastern species. 



The nests of this species are not distinguishable, except in the necessarily 

 varying materials, from those of the Eastern birds. In position, size, and shape 

 they are the same. The eggs, four or five in number, are white, spotted with 

 brown and reddish-brown, and measure .78 by .58 of an inch. The spots are 

 somewhat darker than those of the V.gilvus, and the shape more of an ob- 

 long-oval, in all that I have seen. But this difference may disappear in the 

 examination of a larger number. 



A nest found by Mr. Eidgway near Fort Churchill, Nevada, June 24, was 

 suspended from the extremity of a twig of a sapling of the cottonwood, 

 in a copse of the same growing in a river-bottom. It has a height of two 

 and a half inches, and a diameter of three. It is composed externally of • 

 an elaborate interweaving of spiders'-webs, willow and cottonwood down, 

 and strong cord-like strips of fine inner bark. These are strongly bound 

 around the twigs from which the nest is suspended. It is one of the most 

 elaborately interwoven, homogeneous, and well-felted nests of this bird I 

 have ever met with. Another nest, from Parley's Park, Utah, obtained June 

 28, differs in having the external portion woven almost exclusively of fine 

 strips of bleached bark, and is lined with fine wiry grasses. In each of these 

 the eggs were four in number, all oblong-oval in shape, but much more 

 pointed at one end in the latter nest. 



This species was found breeding in Napa Valley, Cal., by Mr. A. J. Gray- 

 son, and at Fort Tejon by Mr. Xantus. 



Subgenus LANIVIREO, Baird. 



Char. Body stout, head broad. Bill short and stout, broad at the base, the culmen 

 curved from the base, the commissure considerably arched. Bill blue-black. Feet stout. 

 Type, V. flavifrons. For figure, see page 379. 



Species and Varieties. 



Common Characters. A broad stripe from bill to and around, but not beyond, 

 the eye. Two broad white bands across the wings. Bill plumbeous-blue, black 

 toward culmen. Iris brown in all species ? 



