5 70 LooMis Oil South Carolina Birds. [October 



spicious songsters. With the progress of June the season of song consid- 

 erablj waned, much of their singing being fitful. A musical contest, 

 between two rival's, June 27, was not wanting, however, in the earlj vigor. 

 The song varied in individuals, the more gifted performers excelling in 

 the variety of their notes. An air of entire absorption characterizes the 

 execution of these sedate musicians. They often appear to be oblivious 

 of the presence of a listener — seemingly lost in the ecstasy of their own 

 vocalization. The minor notes are peculiar — those of the young, which 

 are uttered incessantly when the parents are taken, being striking and 

 indescribable sounds. It was noticed that the males frequently began to 

 sing when their haunts were invaded, and that they occupied the most 

 exposed perches, usually dead limbs, and seemed anxious to attract atten- 

 tion to themselves and to decoy the intruder away from the spot. The 

 female and tlie young, for family groups were large the first week of June, 

 in the meantime would keep concealed in the thick foliage, eluding casual 

 observation. Sometimes the report of the gun or the ruse of sucking the 

 back of the hand would start the males to singing. As a rule this Vireo 

 is confiding rather than shy. One bird — about a fortnight from the nest 

 ' — was so unsophisticated as to come within touch of my gun, and peer 

 curiously for several moments, until frightened away, at the strange object 

 that had so suddenly appeared. Birds-of-the-year with fully developed 

 wings were shot on the 9th of June. But a single brood appears ordi- 

 narily to be raised, for the organs of reproduction displayed constant 

 degeneration from the outset. 



The assertions previously made (Auk, Vol. VII, p. 126; VIII, 169) as 

 to the coloration of the upper parts and the dark color, in adults, of the 

 under mandible are fully sustained in a supplementary series of twenty- 

 nine specimens — twenty-two males, three females, four hornotines. 

 Fresh colors of the lower mandibles of these examples, recorded in the 

 field, are as follows : 'plumbeous-black,' (ad. (J); 'plumbeous-black, base 

 with stronger indications of plumbeous' (ad. 5); 'plumbeous, blackening 

 at tip- ((J, ? juv.). 



DIMENSIONS (in inches). 



