THE BLUE-HEADED VIREO. 



( yireo solitarius. ) 



The Blue-headed Vireo, or its varie- 

 ties, of which there are several, frequent 

 nearly the whole of North America. The 

 typical form of the species, that of our 

 illustration, has a range covering East- 

 ern North America and extending west- 

 ward to the great plains. It breeds from 

 Southern New England and the lake 

 states northward to Hudson Bay and 

 southward in the higher altitudes of the 

 Alleghenies. It passes the winter in 

 Cuba, I\Iexico and Central America. The 

 Blue-headed Vireo is frequently called 

 the Solitary Vireo, or Greenlet, because 

 of its retiring habits. It is a bird of the 

 forest and stays very close in these quiet 

 retreats. Yet it is, as a rule, easy of ap- 

 proach, seeming to possess both curi- 

 osity and confidence. Mr. Bradford Tor- 

 rey writes with enthusiasm regarding the 

 pretty habits of this bird. He says : "Its 

 most winning trait is its tameness. Wood 

 bird as it is, it will sometimes permit the 

 greatest familiarities. Two birds I have 

 seen which allowed themselves to be 

 stroked in the freest manner while sitting 

 on the eggs, and which ate from my hand 

 as readily as any pet canan.^ : but I have 

 seen others that complained loudly when- 

 ever I approached their tree. Perhaps 

 they had had sad experiences." 



Possessing a happy and cheerful dis- 

 position, this species, like the other 

 vireos, sings while working. Listening 

 to them, we are reminded of the lines in 

 "The Vision of Sir Launfal'" — 



"The little birds sang as if it were 

 The one day of summer in all the year. 



And the very leaves seemed to sing on the 

 trees." 



Fortunate, indeed, is he who has the 

 pleasure of watching this Vireo work- 

 ing upon its home and uttering "inex- 

 pressibly sweet and tender love notes." 



'Mr. Thomas M. Brewer says that the 

 Blue-headed Vireo "usually makes a nest 

 of coarse materials somewhat loosely put 

 together, covering it with lichens, thus 

 assimilating it to the moss-covered limb 



from which it is suspended." The mate- 

 rials used, however, are not always the 

 same. One nest, of which Mr. Brewer 

 speaks, was "covered over, as if cemented, 

 with bits of newspaper." The external 

 portion of another was "composed of the 

 silky cover of cocoons, woven into a ho- 

 mogeneous and clothlike fabric, by some 

 process quite inexplicable." The nests 

 are frequently constructed of fine bark 

 fibers, withered grass and pine needles 

 woven together with moss and lined with 

 plant down, fine grass and small, fibrous 

 roots. 



Much has been written regarding the 

 song of this handsome bird of the woods. 

 The words of Mr. Torrey perhaps best 

 describe it. He says : "The Solitary's 

 song is matchless for the tenderness of 

 its cadence, while in peculiarly happy 

 moments the bird indulges in a continu- 

 ous warble that is really enchanting." It 

 has, too, a musical chatter and a pretty 

 trilled whistle." 



In Mr. Keyser's experience "the song 

 was varied and lively, sometimes running 

 high in the scale, and had not that ab- 

 sent-minded air which marks the rounde- 

 lay of the warbling vireo. It is much 

 more intense and expressive." 



Air. Brewer describes the song as a 

 "prolonged and very peculiar ditty, re- 

 peated at frequent intervals and always 

 identical. It begins with a lively and 

 pleasant warble, of a gradually ascending 

 scale, which at a certain pitch suddenly 

 breaks down into a falsetto note. The 

 song then rises again in a single note and 

 ceases." 



The notes of the female suggest to Mr. 

 Burroughs "the bleating of a tiny lamb- 

 kin." To Mr. Nuttall "its song seems to 

 be intermediate between that of the red- 

 eyed and the yellow-breasted species, 

 having the 'preai, preai,' of the latter and 

 the fine variety of the former in its 

 tones." To all "the music of the Solitary 

 A'ireo is delicious." 



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