36o THE WESTERN WARBLING ^IREO. 



family is tlic attcntioii \tiud to the mitside instcail of tlic inside (jf the nesl. Tlie 

 outside is carefully adorned with lichens, old rags, pieces of wasp nests, or bits 

 of newsi>aper, with no idea of furthering ct»ncealnient, f<jr the result is often 

 verv conspicuous. 'I'he walls are not over a third of an inch thick, but are so 

 strong that they not infrequently weather the storms of three or four seasons. 

 When we came uix)n a female sitting contentedly in her nest in the center 

 of a chanuing birch tangle in Chelan County, we had as good as jjliotograjjlied 

 the eggs. W'c were jiarticularly elated at our good fortune because the eggs 

 had not yet been taken within the limits of the State. When we had watched 

 the mild-eyed mother for ten minutes, and had lessened the distance to five 

 feet, we began to suspect young: but when she llitted, we found nothing at all. 

 She was only fooling. 



No. 13<>. 



WKSTKRN \V\RBLIi\(, \IREO. 



.\. n. I'. .\i). ()_'7 a. Vireos.\lva ^jilva swainsonii lilaird). 



Description. — .Itiiilt: .\l)ove, dull asliy, almost fuscous, tinged with oliva- 

 ceous, same on iiik-mn. — the last-named color briglitcst on interscapulars, rump, 

 and edgings of secondaries and rcctrices; wings and tail fuscous, the primaries 

 with faint whitish cdgiTigs ; no wing-bars; lirst jiriniary spurious, — only al)out a 

 third as long as the others; j)oint of wing formed by third, fourth, and fifth 

 primaries ; second .shorter than si.Nth ; below white with slight tinges on sides. — 

 l)uffy on sides of head and neck, olive-fuscous on sides of breast, sulpbur-yclinw 

 on sides of belly and flanks, and sometimes vaguely on breast : litres and s])acc 

 aljout eve whitish, enclosing obscure dusky line thru eye: bill dusky above, 

 lighter below; feet blackish. Length 3.oo-'6.oo (i 27-1 52.4): wing 2.64 {67): 

 tail 1.94 (4<)..^): bill ..v> (10); tarsus .69 (17.5). 



Recognition Marks. — Warbler size: general absence of positive characteris- 

 tics, — altogetlKT tlu- ))lainest-colored bird of the .\nierican avifauna. 



Nesting. — Xcsl: a pensile pouch of bark-strips, grasses, vegetable fibers, and 

 trash, carefully lined with plant-down; bung usually from fork of small limb, at 

 any height. /;'(/</.«.■ .^ or 4, white, sparingly and distinctly dotted or spotted, or, 

 rai-clv, blotched with black, umber. c)r redilisb brown, chiefly at the larger end. 

 .■\v. size .75 >i -55 ( 19 x i^.<)). Scasmi: June 1-20; one browl. 



General Range. — Western I'nitcd States and Canada (British Columbia, 

 .Mberta ami .Xthabasca), breeding south to southern Ixirder of United States 

 and southern extremity of Lower California; south in winter thru Mexico to 

 \'era Cruz and Oaxaca. 



Range in Washington. — Summer resident thruout the State in deciduous 

 timber, chiefly at lower levels. 



Migrations.— .S'/TiMi;.- Yakima. May 6. kxxd; Seattle, May 5. i'X>5: 

 Yakima. May 4, ir^); Tacoma. May 3. VT<7 : Seattle. May 3, HjoR. 



