438 



General Notes. \_^^ 



Solitary Vireo; in both of these instances, however, the bird, unlike the 

 Solitary above mentioned, appeared to use only the song which it had 

 borrowed from its near relative and to have either lost or never acquired 

 that of its own species. — William Brewster, Cambridge., Mass. 



Bell's Vireo ( ]7rco bellii) in Colorado. — It may be of interest to record 

 that the writer shot a male Bell's Vireo, June 12, 1903, on Clear Creek, 

 near Denver, Colorado. In his second appendix to the ' Birds of Col- 

 orado,' Prof. W. W. Cooke intimates the future discovery of the species 

 in the State, and so far as I know this is the first taken in Colorado. The 

 bird was first discovered by heaiing its unfamiliar song, but I feel quite 

 certain I have heard the same song in the city, on one or two occasions 

 in previous years. The specimen is now in the collection of the State 

 Historical and Natural History Society, Denver, Colo. — Horace G. 

 Smith, Asst. Curator, State Historical and Natural History Society, Den- 

 ver, Colorado. 



Nest and Eggs of the Swainson's Warbler [Heliiiaia sivaiuso/iii). — 

 June ist and 8th were ' red-letter' days for me from an oological stand- 

 point. Jumping on my wheel and riding two or three miles from this 

 city, I came to a swamp I had never visited before ; and while looking 

 carefully among the thick cane-brake, I heard chips of a warbler.* Birds 

 were singing and darting all around, and the ' swamp-flies ' were making 

 my life miserable, when I perceived a bunch of cane-leaves near the top 

 of a cane-bush seven feet above the ground. On going closer, I saw a 

 warbler on the nest, which immediately flushed and feigned lameness, 

 rolling and chirping on the ground ainong the cane. I at once recog- 

 nized the bird as Swainson's Warbler, and on peering into the nest saw, 

 to my great delight, three white, unmarked eggs of a slightly pinkish hue 

 and rather globular in shape. The nest was a typical warbler's, being 

 made of leaves of the elm, cane in layers, pine needles, and lined with 

 fine rootlets and grasses. I at once packed the eggs with the enthusiasm 

 of having found such a rare nest — the rarest eggs I have ever found in 

 this locality. Having read that this specie of warbler nests in small 

 colonies, I continued in the cane, stooping often to search the tops of 

 the cane. I had not gone ten feet, when I came to another nest with 

 a warbler on it, in a canebush situated five feet above the ground. The 

 bird dropped and fluttered off. The nest was more compactly built and 

 contained three fresh eggs, somewhat smaller than the eggs of the other 

 set. Proceeding near the end of the cane-brake, I saw a warbler dart out 

 from a clump of cane, and on investigating, I saw a neat little Hooded 

 Warbler's (Wilso?iia miirata) nest with three creamy white eggs marked 

 with specks and spots of chestnut and lilac gray wreaths. I found one 

 uncompleted Swainson's Warbler's nest, and on visiting the same swamp 

 again in a week, I located two more sets of three eggs each of this 



