THE AUK: 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 



ORNITHOLOGY. 

 Vol. XX. October, 1903. No. 4. 



FURTHER NOTES ON THE PHILADELPHIA VIREO, 

 WITH DESCRIPTION OF THE NEST AND EGGS. 



BY WILLIAM BREWSTER. 



Plate XI. 



In the 'Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club' for Janu- 

 ary, 1880, I published some ' Notes on the Habits and Distribution 

 of the Philadelphia Vireo ( Vh co philadelphkus).'' This article 

 was followed in 1897 by Dr. D wight's 'A Study of the Philadel- 

 phia Vireo i^Vireo philadclpJikus) ,^ which gives by far the fullest 

 and best account of the bird's habits, and especially of its song, 

 that has ever appeared. Of its breeding habits we still know very 

 little. "On the 9th of June, 1884, while camped near Duck 

 Mountain," Manitoba, Mr. Seton found a nest which "was hung 

 from a forked twig about eight feet from the ground, in a willow 

 which was the reverse of dense, as it grew in the shade of a pop- 

 lar grove. The nest was pensile, as usual with the genus, formed 

 of fine grass and birch bark. The eggs were four in number, 

 and presented no obvious difference from those of the Red-eyed 

 Vireo, but unfortunately they were destroyed by an accident before 

 they were measured .... The bird on being shot answered per- 

 fectly to Coues's description, except that on the breast it was of 

 a much brighter yellow than I was led to expect." (Ernest E. T. 

 Seton, Auk, II, 1885, pp. 305, 306). The identification of this 

 nest must be accepted, of course, as wholly satisfactory, but that of 



