BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 285 



259 [626] Vireo philadelphicus (Cass.). 

 Philadelphia Vireo. 



Very rare transient visitor. 



Although there is only one record for the County and only three others for 

 the State, — all autumnal records, — it seems probable that the Philadelphia 

 Vireo may in reality be less rare than it appears, as it breeds only a short dis- 

 tance to the north, about Lake Umbagog and northwestward across New 

 Hampshire. The fact that its song so closely resembles that of the common 

 Red eyed Vireo would lead one to pass the bird by in the spring. 



The only record : for the County is of a male taken by me on September 

 iSth, 1879, at Magnolia. The bird was found feeding in some bushes by the 

 side of a road. Its stomach contained besides insects, a number of large seeds 

 and berries. Records of twenty-two stomachs of the other Vireos all showed 

 nothing but insects. I have recently given the specimen to the Peabody 

 Academy, at Salem, in whose collection of Essex County birds it now has a 

 place. 



The only other records 2 for the State are : one taken at Cambridge on 

 September 7th, 1875; one at Brookline in September, 1881 (?) ; and one at 

 Cambridge, September 27th, 1894. 



260 [627] Vireo gilvus (Vieill.). 

 Warbling Vireo. 



Common summer resident ; May 5 to September. 



Eggs : June 1 1. 



The Warbling Vireo may be often heard, rarely seen, in the lofty branches 

 of the American elms that line the roadways of the old Essex County towns. 



1C. W. Townsend : Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, vol. 5, p. 53, 1880. 



2 R. H. Howe, Jr., and G. M. Allen : The Birds of Massachusetts, p. 86, 1901. 



