154 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
(a). Nearly six inches long. Olive-green above, becoming 
bluish-ash on the rump. Throat and breast, bright yellow ; 
belly, white. Eye-ring, etc., yellow. Wings and tail generally 
dark; former with two white bars. 
(b). The nest of this species is pensile, but rather larger 
and deeper than those of the other vireos, being between 3 and 
3} inches wide, and nearly as deep. It is placed in the fork 
of a horizontal branch, from three to fifteen feet above the 
ground, as often in the orchard as in the woods, though I have 
found it in pines. It is composed of narrow strips of thin 
bark, such as that of the cedar or large vines, is lined with 
pine-needles or grasses, and is usually ornamented on the 
outside with caterpillar’s silk and large pieces of lichen. The 
four eggs, which are generally laid here in the first week of 
June, average *80 X ‘60 of an inch, and are white, with black 
and either purplish or brownish spots, which are sometimes, 
but not usually, quite numerous (about the crown). 
(c). The Yellow-throated Vireos reach Eastern Massachu- 
setts in the second week of May, and leave it in September. 
They are locally distributed through our State, and are rare in 
certain neighborhoods. They are (perhaps) our handsomest 
vireos, and certainly possess great charms as singers. They 
excel all their relations in architectural taste and skill, and 
construct a beautiful nest, ornamented outwardly with lichens, 
plant-down, and caterpillar’s silk, but plainly or even roughly 
finished inside—thus differing from that of the hummingbird, 
which it otherwise resembles very much, except in being pen- 
sile. It is altogether one of the prettiest nests to be found 
among our specimens of bird-architecture. It is extremely 
interesting to watch it in the progress of its construction. 
The birds are occupied about a week in that process, beginning 
by firmly twining dry grasses around the twigs from which it 
is to be suspended, and always working downwards until the 
frame is completed. It is almost impossible, even on watching 
them closely, to tell exactly how they weave the grasses to- 
gether, or how they attach many of their ornamentations. 
Wonderful is that innate skill which enables them, with their 
