THE ANTHONY VIREO. 367 



Recognition Marks. — Pygmy to warbler size ; dingy coloration ; whitish 

 wing-bars serve to distingnisli bird from Vireosylva g. szcainsonii. but throw it 

 into confusion in summer with the Western Flycatcher (Euipidonax difficUis) , 

 which it otherwise closely resembles, and in winter with the Sitkan Kinglet 

 (Regulus c. grinnclU). 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. — Xcst: a semipensile basket of interwoven mosses lined with grasses 

 (nine feet high in fir tree — one example known). Eggs: 2-$( ?) ; .72 x .52 (18 x 

 12.9). Season: June (probably also earlier). 



General Range. — Pacific Coast district from western Oregon to south- 

 western British Columl)ia at lower levels (not at all confnied to oak woods as 

 variously reported). 



Range in Washington. — West-side, as above; strictly resident. 



Authorities. — ?To\\nsend, Tourn. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. VIH. 1839, 153 

 (Columbia River). Bowles (C. W. and J. H.), Auk. XV. 1898. 138. Ra. P.. E. 



Specimens. — I', of W. Prov. Pj. E. 



IN ap])roaching tlie study of Anthony's \^ireo one must forget all he 

 knows or thinks he knows about Vireos in general. This bird is siii (/(-iicris. 

 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 Suckiey, 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 tliat time 

 appearances have become a matter of course to the initiated. Samuel X. 

 Rhoads'', writing in 1893, considered Anthony's Yireo 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 \'ictoria 

 during the coldest weather of 1905-6. and find it regularly at Seattle and Ta- 

 coma during the winter season. J. H. Powles secured a specimen, a male in 

 full song, at American Lake on January the 26th, 1907. Moreover, this bird 

 had a bare bellv 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 conii)ared 

 with the tvpc form. /'. Inittoiii) testifies further to their long residence. 



.\nthony's \'ireo is leisurely, almost sluggish at times, in its movements. 



a. .\uk, Vol. XIX., -Apr.. 1902, p. 138. 



b. Proc. .\cad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1893, p. 54- 



c. Cat. B. C. Birds Prov. Mus., Victoria, 1904, p. 52. 



