VIREOXID^ — THE VIREOS. 38X 



with mosses and lichens, and tlms made to conform closely in appearance to 

 the moss-grown bark of the tree. The under portion of the nest is strength- 

 ened by long strips of the inner bark of the wild grape. Within is an 

 inner nest made of fine grassy stems and Ijark. It forms exactly a half- 

 sphere in shape, is symmetrical, and is very thoroughly made. Its diameter 

 is four, and its height two and one fourth inches. 



Mr. Xuttall describes a nest of this Ijird, found by him suspended from the 

 forked twig of an oak, near a dwelling-house, as coated over with green 

 lichens, attached very artfuUy by a slender string of caterpillars' silk, the 

 whole afterwards tied over by almost invisiljle threads of the same, so nicely 

 done as to appear to be glued on. The whole fabric was tlius made to re- 

 semble an accidental knot of the tree, grown o\'er with moss. Another nest, 

 observed by the same writer, was fixed on the depending branches of a wild 

 cherry, and was fifty feet from the ground. So lofty a position as this is 

 probably very unusual. I have never met with any higher tlian ten feet 

 from the ground. 



The food of this Yireo is chiefly insects, and in the breeding-season is 

 altogether so. Later in the season they mingle with these various kinds of 

 small berries. 



The eggs of this species vary from .95 to .88 of an inch in length, and 

 from .65 to .60 in breadth. Their ground-color is white, often with a very 

 perceptible tint of roseate when fresh. In this respect they differ in a very 

 marked manner from the eggs of any other of this genus, except, perhaps, 

 the harhatula, and may thus always be very easily recognized. They are 

 more or less boldly marked with blotches of a dark roseate-brown, also pe- 

 culiar to the eggs of this species, though varying greatly in their size and 

 depth of color. 



This Vireo winters, in great numbers, in Central America, and was largely 

 represented in the collection of Dr. Van Patten from Guatemala. It was 

 also found at Pirico, in Colombia, South America, by ]\Ir. C. W. "VVyatt. 

 It occurs in abundance as far to the west as Grinnell, Iowa, where Mr. 

 W. H. Parker found it to be a very common summer resident. 



