76 NESTS AND EGGS OF N. A. BIRDS. 



and eggs are rarely found. April 7, 1874, I found a nest placed 

 ten feet from the ground, suspended from a dead branch of a 

 Negundo^ containing three eggs incubated about five days. March 

 30, 1875, I found another nest placed eight feet from the ground, 

 suspended from the small twigs of a Fraiis^nla. "■^-•••*' The nest — 

 a neat, compact structure, composed of fine vegetable fibres, bits 

 of paper, and gr&sses covered on the outside with green and gray 

 mosses, lined with fine grasses — measures 3.25 inches in diameter 

 outside, 1.75 inside ; depth 2.25 outside, 1.50 inside. 



The eggs, four in number, are white (a delicate blush-color be- 

 fore blown), marked with minute dots of reddish-brown, more 

 numerous toward the larger end. They measure respectively, .70 

 by .52,. 70 by .51, .69 by 51.68by.52. Two other nests were found, each 

 containing four eggs. They were placed one in a Negundo, thirty 

 feet high, the other at the extremity of an oak limb, twenty-five 

 feet from the ground." — William A. Cooper, Bull Nutt. Orn* 

 Club, April, 1878, p. 68. 



145. VIREO BELLI. 



BELL'S VIREO 



Bell's Vireo is found in the United States, from the Missouri 

 River to the base of the Rocky Mountains. 



"This species was first procured by Mr. Audubon's party in the 

 excursion to the Yellow-Stone River, in what is now known as 

 Dakota Territory." 



A nest from West Texas, obtained by Captain Pope, is described 

 as follows : "It is three inches in diameter, and but one inch and 

 three quarters high. The opening is circular, but only one and 

 a-half inches in width The outer nest is made up of an in- 

 terweaving of fine strips of bark and dry leaves, intermingled with 

 and firmly bound around by strong flax-like fibres of diiferent 

 plants. Within it is lilted with fine flexible grasses and stems of 

 plants. The eggs of this species are from .73 to .76 of an inch in 

 length, and from .52 to .56 in breadth. They are pure white, spar- 

 ingly spotted with fine red dots distributed around the larger end. 



