302 
THE BLUE-HEADED VIREO. 
highly ornamented, almost concealed, by mosses and lichens. Some authori- 
ties place it at a height of from five to twenty or thirty feet, but I am inclined 
to the opinion that many nests may be found at a much greater height. The 
males assist regularly in the duties of incubation, and they have a suicidal 
habit of singing on the nest. 
No. 133. 
BLUE-HEADED VIREO. 
A. O. U. No. 629. Vireo solitarius (Wils.). 
Synonym.—So.irary VIREO. 
Description.—Adult: Crown and sides of head ciear, bluish ash; eye-ring 
and supra-loral line white; remaining upper parts olive-green; wings and tail 
blackish, with whitish or olive-green edgings; tips of middle and greater coverts 
white, forming two conspicuous bars; spurious quill about one-fourth as long 
as others; second quill shorter than fifth; point of wing formed by third and 
fourth; below white, purest on chin and throat; the sides heavily washed with 
greenish yellow or olive-green, the color reaching sometimes nearly across the 
breast; bill and feet black or blackish. Length 5.00-6.00 (127.-152.) ; wing 2.95 
(74.9) ; tail 2.18 (55.4) ; bill from nostril .29 (7.4). 
Recognition Marks.—Warbler size; a large, clearly-marked species, best 
known by its blue cap enclosing white eye-ring, and its white throat. 
Nesting.—Not yet positively reported from Ohio. Nest, a pendulous basket 
of usual Vireo construction, but sometimes decorated externally with moss and 
lichens, placed in forks of horizontal branch, five to fifteen feet up. Eggs, 4 or 5, 
white with scattering dots and spots of red or reddish brown. Av. size, .81 x .62 
(20.6 x 15.8). 
General Range.—E astern United States to the Plains, north to Hudson Bay 
and Fort Simpson. South in winter to Guatemala. Breeds from southern New 
England and the northern parts of the Lake States northward. 
Range in Ohio.—A common spring and fall migrant. Suspected, but not 
known to breed in northern part of state. 
IT is a thankless task to compare the several beauties of birds so modest 
as the Vireos, but certainly when it comes to plumage nothing could be more 
chaste, more decorous, and pleasing withal, than the dainty blues and whites 
of l’. solitarius. It is principally by his costume that we know him, for he 
is usually silent during migrations, and sings only in the northern tier of 
counties, or, in a moment of forgetfulness, by the wayside. Blue-headed 
