38 NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Others of this family, it is Hned with down and fine hair of animals, instead 

 of with vegetable substances. 



Hub. Middle Region of United States; west to base of Rocky Mts.; east to the valley of the Ohio. 



146. Least Vireo — vireo pusillus. Crystalline white, speckled with 

 red and reddish brown, markings being very minute and scarcely discern- 

 ible in some, in others very distinctly marked; three or four, size .73 by 

 .'](> in length by .52 to .56 in breadth. A common bird in Arizona and 

 Southern California. The habits of this Vireo, as far as known, corres- 

 pond closely with those of Bell's and the White-eyed Vireo. Nests from 

 Arizona are described as substantially like those of the former species, 

 being pensile, as usual, and suspended by three-fourths of its brim from 

 two small twigs. 



Hab. Arizona, chiefly in its lower portions, and California, from Sacramento to Cape St. Lucas. 



147. Gray Vireo — vireo vicinior. Ro.sy, when fresh, becoming a 

 dead white when blown, rather sparsely spotted with irregularly shaped 

 dark umber-brown dots, chiefly at the larger end ; usually three or four in 

 number, size from .75 to .78 in length by .57 to .59 in breadth. W. E. 

 D. Scott, on the breeding habits of some Arizona Birds, in the Auk for 

 October, 1885, says that the Arizona or Gray Vireo is, excepting the 

 Least Vireo, the commonest form of Vireo on the San Pedro river foot- 

 hills of Las Sierras de Santa Catalina, at an altitude ranging from 2800 to 

 4000 feet; these altitudes being about the limits of the species while breed- 

 ing. Several nests found were placed either in a thorn bush or mesquite, 

 from four to seven feet from the ground. They were composed of the dry 

 skin or bark of a coarse kind of grass, lined with the same material. In 

 one nest a few downy feathers were added to the lining. 



Hab. Arizona and New Mexico. 



148. Great Northern Shrike — lanius borealis. Light greenish-ground, 

 marbled and streaked with blotches of obscure purple, clay color, and 

 rufous brown; four or five and sometimes six in number, size i. loby .80. 

 The nests and eggs of all the Shrikes are similar. In the breeding season 

 this species is found throughout the whole of North America north of 

 United States. The nest is built in trees; it is very large and bulky, made 

 of soft stems and grasses, well fetted together, and lined with down and 

 feathers. Dr. Wheaton calls the Shrikes the "Bushwhackers" among 

 birds, none being so notorious for cruelty and rapacity. 



Hab. North America, northerly, south in winter to about 3-5^. 



141). Loggerhead Shrike — lanius ludovicianus. Light greyish, 

 blotched and spotted with obscure yellowish and light brown and purplish- 

 grey, more or less confluent, four to six, size, 1.05 by .76. A typical nest 

 before me is a large massive structure made of twigs, roots and stems of 



