•2 70 Brewster, JVofcs on f//c P/n7(jde/Ji//ia Vireo. foct' 



the nest taken in 1895 at Lansdowne, Ontario, Canada, by Mr. 

 Young and attributed by him with apparent confidence to the 

 present species, leaves much to be desired. The parent birds, he 

 tells us, were merely " observed" through " strong field glasses." 

 Although " decidedly smaller than the Red-eye " they were " more 

 bulky in shape," while " the yellow shading of the breast was not 

 very evident." These statements are not calculated, on the whole, 

 to inspire confidence, especially as Mr. Young admits that he " had 

 never met with the species before." Had he been familiar with 

 its appearance in life he would have known that it looks less 

 instead of "more bulky" than the Red-eye and that the yellow of 

 its under parts is invariably conspicuous when the bird is viewed 

 in a good light. The chances are that the Vireos he saw were 

 merely small individuals of V. olivaceus. At all events the record 

 is not supported by good enough evidence to be worth serious 

 consideration. The nest to which it relates was built in a low 

 shrub {Spircea salicifolia) and contained, in addition to two eggs 

 of the Cowbird, a single egg of the rightful owner which " was 

 marked exactly like that of the Red-eye Vireo but was smaller, 

 and according to its size was rather more globular in shape " 

 (C. J. Young, Auk, XV, 1898, pp. 191, 192 ). 



As I reported in 1880 (in the article above mentioned), the 

 Philadelphia Vireo is a not uncommon summer resident of the 

 region lying about Lake Umbagog in western Maine and northern 

 New Hampshire where its favorite haunts are second-growth 

 woods about the edges of farms or other openings and burnt lands 

 sparsely covered with yovmg poplars and paper birches. In 

 places of this character I found it very generally if somewhat 

 sparingly distributed during the greater part of June, 1879, but 

 although the behavior of several pairs which I had under almost 

 daily observation that season convinced me that they were breed- 

 ing I failed to discover any of their nests. Nor was I more for- 

 tunate in 1 88 1 when the numbers of the birds appeared to be 

 unchanged. My next spring visit to Umbagog was made in 1896 

 when, with the assistance of Mr. C. H. Watrous, Mr. R. A. Gil- 

 bert and one of the local guides, I devoted upwards of five con- 

 secutive weeks (May 12-June 15) to looking for rare birds and 

 nests in the immediate neighborhood of the lake. The corre- 



