THE ANTHONY VIREO. — 
367 
Recognition Marks.—Pygmy to warbler size; dingy coloration; whitish 
wing-bars serve to distinguish bird from Vireosylva g. swainsonii, but throw it 
into confusion in summer with the Western Flycatcher (Empidonay diffcilis), 
which it otherwise closely resembles, and in winter with the Sitkan Kinglet 
(Regulus c. grinnelli). From the Flycatcher it may be distinguished by its shorter, 
narrower and yet thicker bill, and by its more restrained yellowness; from the 
Kinglet by its greater size and much stouter bill, more prominent wing-bars, and 
rather less prominent eye-ring; and from both by its demure ways. 
Nesting.—WN est: a semipensile basket of interwoven mosses lined with grasses 
(nine feet high in fir tree—one example known). Eggs: 2-5(?); .72x.52 (18x 
12.9). Season: June (probably also earlier). 
General Range.—Pacific Coast district from western Oregon to south- 
western British Columbia at lower levels (not at all confined to oak woods as 
variously reported). 
Range in Washington.—West-side, as above; strictly resident. 
Authorities.—? Townsend, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. VIII. 1839, 153 
(Columbia River). Bowles (C. W. and J. H.), Auk, XV. 1898, 138. Ra. B. E. 
Specimens.—U. of W. Prov. B. E. 
IN approaching the study of Anthony’s Vireo one must forget all he 
knows or thinks he knows about Vireos in general. This bird is sui generis, 
and deviations from all known rules are its delight. It has been, in fact, until 
quite recently, a sort of woodland sphinx, an ornithological mystery, the sub- 
ject of much inquiry and hazard. Its presence in Washington was quite over- 
looked by Cooper and Suckley, and Mr. Rathbun’s appears to be the record* of 
first occurrence, that of a bird taken May 14, 1895. I took a specimen on 
Capitol Hill on the third day of June of the same year; and since that time 
appearances have become a matter of course to the initiated. Samuel N. 
Rhoads?, writing in 1893, considered Anthony’s Vireo a rare visitor to Van- 
couver Island, where he secured a specimen in 1892 near Victoria. Fannin® 
records it as “a summer resident on Vancouver Island.’ As matter of fact, 
the bird is resident the year round wherever it occurs. I saw it near Victoria 
during the coldest weather of 1905-6, and find it regularly at Seattle and Ta- 
coma during the winter season. J. H. Bowles secured a specimen, a male in 
full song, at American Lake on January the 26th, 1907. Moreover, this bird 
had a bare belly as tho it might have been assisting with incubation. 
The very fact that these birds winter with us argues that they have been 
here for always and always, and the darkening of plumage (as compared 
with the type form, I”. huttoni) testifies further to their long residence. 
Anthony’s Vireo is leisurely, almost sluggish at times, in its movements. 
a. Auk, Vol. XIX., Apr., 1902, p. 138. 
b. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1893, p. 54- 
ce. Cat. B. C. Birds Prov. Mus., Victoria, 1904, p. 52. 
