350 NESTS AND EGGS OP 



ing voice with the rich music of the equally numerous Rose-breasted 

 Grosbeaks and Scarlet Tanagers. On the Black Mountains it was 

 very common, ranging from about 4200 feet to the lower edge of 

 the balsams (5000 feet), and inhabiting woods similar to those just 

 described.* Mr. Brewster and Mr. R. B. McLaughlin both simul- 

 taneously published accounts of the first nests and eggs of this bird ever 

 taken.f 



The nest described by Mr. Brewster contained four perfectly fresh 

 eggs, and was found by Mr. J. S. Cairns, May 27, 1887, ^^ Craggy 

 Mount, Buncombe county, North Carolina. It was in a chestnut, ten 

 feet out from the main trunk and about twenty feet above the ground. 

 The nest is a substantial structure, suspended after the usual Vireo 

 fashion in the forks of a terminal twig. In places the rim is nearly an 

 inch in thickness. The exterior is beautifully diversified with white 

 and purplish-brown sheep's wool, grayish lichens, small strips and 

 fragments of decayed wood, and a few spider's cocoons, bound firmly 

 to or hanging loosely from the frame-work proper, which is composed 

 of coarse grass stalks and strips of bark. The interior lining is fine 

 bleached grasses, stems, and moss. Upon comparing this nest with 

 four New England nests of V. sohtariics^ Mr. Brewster states that it is 

 much larger, with thicker walls and more elaborate external decora- 

 tions. The eggs are also larger and finer spotted than any of the 

 series of fifteen eggs of solitarius in his collection. The eggs belong- 

 ing to this nest measure, respectively, .84 x .49, .78 x .58, .78 x .58, 

 .80 X .58. They are ovate to elongate-ovate in shape ; in color, pure 

 white, with a few fine spots, and rather numerous minute dots of 

 brown, varying in tone from vandyke to seal brown. 



Mr. McLaughlin found the Mountain Solitary Vireo breeding in 

 the vicinity of Statesville, Iredell county. North Carolina, in June, 

 1888. He obtained two nests containing eggs on the nth and 15th, 

 respectively. Mr. McLaughlin's observations indicate that the bird in 

 that region confines itself to the pine woods, the summer home of the 

 Pine Warbler, Dendroica vigorsii. Both nests found were suspended 

 from the limbs of pines and were less than a hundred yards apart. 

 One contained three, the other four eggs. The nests were similar in 

 composition to that of Mr. Brewster's, except that they lack the sheep's 

 wool on the exterior. 



Mr. Norris has a set of three eggs, taken May 4, 1888, in Bun- 

 combe county. North Carolina. These are pure white, speckled at the 



':'The Auk, III, pp. H1-112. 



t In Ornithologist and Oologist, XIII, pp. 113-114. 



