THE WARBLING VIREO. PAS 
brownish-black. The measurement of four eggs in a nest 
collected in Milton, Mass., are .84 by .60 inch, .80 by .60 
inch, .80 by .59 inch, .78 by .59 inch. Other specimens 
vary but little from these dimensions. Two broods are 
often reared in the season. The period of incubation is 
twelve days. 
VIREO GILVUS.— Bonaparte. 
The Warbling Vireo. 
Muscicapa gilva, Vieillot. Ois., I. (1807) 65. 
Vireo gilvus, Nuttall. I. (1832) 309. Aud. Orn. Biog., I. (1884) 114; V. (1839) 
433. 
Muscicapa melodia, Wilson. Am. Orn., V. (1812) 85. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Third, fourth, and fifth quills nearly equal; second and sixth usually about equa, 
and about twenty-five one-hundredths of an inch shorter than third; the exposed 
portion of spurious quill about one-fourth the third; above greenish-olive; the 
head and hind neck ashy, the back slightly tinged with the same; lores dusky; a 
white streak from the base of the upper mandible above and a little behind the eye; 
beneath the eye whitish; sides of the head pale yellowish-brown; beneath white, 
tinged with very pale yellow on the breast and sides; no light margins whatever on 
the outer webs of the wings or tail. 
Length, about five and a half inches; wings nearly three. Spurious primary, 
one-fourth the length of second. 
This species is a not very common summer inhabitant of 
New England, arriving and departing at about the same 
time as the preceding species. It is seldom seen in the 
deep forests; and, while usually found about farm-houses 
and villages, is most commonly seen in localities where there 
are numbers of the trees of the poplar and ash. In these 
trees, it inhabits the higher branches; and is, with the Red- 
eyed Vireo, equally industrious in its search for insects. Its 
song is difficult of description: it is, unlike that of our other 
Vireos, a long-continued, cheerful warble; and is perhaps 
best described by saying that it almost exactly resembles 
the love-song of the Purple Finch. In fact, I have some- 
times mistaken the song of this bird for that of the other, 
and only discovered my error after carefully watching the 
bird in his movements in the tree-tops. 
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