^°co^^] General Notes. 437 



family, as seen in eastern North America, that I had supposed never to 

 have altered its manner of life as a i-esult of what we call civilization. — 

 Bradford Torrey, Wel/csley Hills, Mass. 



An Interesting Solitary Vireo {Vireo solitnrius).— On April jS, 1903, a 

 male Solitary Vireo appeared in our garden ; this, although situated in a • 

 thickly settled part of Cambridge, more than a mile from the nearest 

 woods, covers upwards of an acre of ground and contains, in addition to 

 much dense shrubbery, a number of well-grown trees of various kinds, 

 including a few pines, spruces and hemlocks. The bird evidently- found 

 the place to his liking, for he remained there during the whole of the 

 following three months, spending most of his time in the garden but 

 also ranging through the cultivated grounds which surround the houses 

 of our nearer neighbors. So far as we could ascertain he had no mate^ 

 although it is possible that he built a nest, for on one occasion late in 

 June he was seen tearing strips of loose bark from a birch and taking 

 them into the trees on the opposite side of the street. 



That so notorious a forest lover as the Solitary Vireo should ever 

 choose for his summer home a city garden, however wild and primitive, 

 is sufficiently remarkable, but a still more interesting characteristic of 

 this particular bird was that he had two perfectly distinct songs, one 

 typically that of his own species, the other absolutely indistinguishable 

 from that of the Yellow-throated Vireo. These, although used with 

 about equal frequency, were never confused or intermingled. He would 

 sing one for minutes at a time and then take up the other for a longer or 

 shorter period. Not once when I was listening to him did he interpolate 

 any of the notes of either strain among those of the other, nor ever 

 change from one to the other save after a well marked interval of silence- 

 To the ear of the listener, in short, he was either a Solitary or a Yellow- 

 throat, as the mood happened to serve, but never both in the same breath. 



When rendering his own legitimate theme this bird was as typical and 

 fine a singer as any Solitary that I have ever heard. Indeed, he appeared 

 gifted to a really exceptional degree with the wild, ringing quality of voice, 

 the generous repertory of varied, exquisitely modulated notes, and the. 

 (at times) rapid, ecstatic delivery which combine to make the song of the 

 Solitary so delightful to all discriminating lovers of bird music. But 

 when, on the other hand, he chose to play the r61e of his yellow-throated 

 cousin he reproduced with equal fidelity and success the latter's character- 

 istically slow, measured delivery and rich contralto voice. So perfect, 

 indeed, was the imitation that when, as repeatedly happened, I had 

 opportunity for directly comparing it with the song of a true Yellow- 

 throated Vireo that also frequented the garden, I was unable to detect any 

 difterences whatever in the notes of the two birds. 



It may be well to add in this connection that Mr. Walter Faxon has 

 heard one Yellow-throated Vireo (in Waltham, Massachusetts) and I 

 another (in Lancaster, Massachusetts) which sang almost exactly like a 



