In the Woods. 141 



During the spring and fall migration the Solitary X'^ireo comes early and 



remains late, in the middle districts till almost the first of November. He is 



one of the few birds whose clear, musical song is heard at 

 Blue-headed Vireo. ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ 



Vireo solitarius (\ViIs. ). 



He is slaty blue on the top and sides of the head, 

 shading into olive green on the back ; the rump is brighter. There is a 

 white rm^ around the eye, and a wJiitc space bctiveeii tJic eye and the bill. The 

 two white wing bars, and the lower parts are white, becoming yellowish on 

 the sides and flanks. The sexes are alike, and the birds in the autumn are 

 rather duller in general color, the blue of the head and the wing bars having 

 olive and yellowish suffusions. 



The nest is a hanging one, generally about ten feet from the ground, 

 placed in the fork of a branch to which it is attached, except where its edge 

 fills the space at the wider part of the angle of the fork. It is built of plant 

 fibres and pine needles. The eggs, three or four in number, are white, 

 sparsely spotted with dots of dark brown and black, mainly at the larger end. 

 They are four fifths of an inch long, and nearly three fifths of an inch in the 

 smaller diameter. 



The birds ranee throuehout Eastern North America, north to Hudson's 

 Bay, during the migrations. They breed from Connecticut and the northern 

 part of the Lake States northward. They winter from Florida southward to 

 Central America. 



The Mountain Solitary Vireo is a geographical race occupying the 



higher portions of the Alleghanies in Southwestern Virginia, and North and 



South Carolina during the breeding season. In the fall 



Mountain Solitary ^^^ winter it extends its migrations southward to Florida, 



Vireo solitarius aiticoia where it is of frccjuent occurrence during the colder parts 



Brewst. ,. ^ 



01 the year. 



It is similar in plumage to the Solitary Vireo proper, but the upper 

 parts are much darker and of a dusky, plumbeous tone on the back as well 

 as on the head. The shadine of greenish on the back is much fainter. The 

 birds are larger, with comparatively much larger bills. 



The nesting habits are essentially the same as those of the Solitary Vireo. 



I found this bird a not uncommon summer resident, and breeding, 

 during the summer of 1889, in the vicinity of Mountain Lake, Giles County, 

 Virginia, at an altitude of from three to four thousand feet. 



