THE WHITE-EYED VIREO. 303 



Vireos are abundant during Warbler time and are generally to be found high 

 in the trees, keeping company with the equally silent Olive-backed Thrushes, 

 or pausing to admire the tiny manceuvers of their Warbler friends. This is 

 not their habitual range, however, and those which venture down into the 

 lower branches or move about among the shrubbery appear to be much more 

 at home. While with us the bird is deliberate in its movements and gives 

 no sign of the vivacity which characterizes the resident species. 



The only song I have heard during the migrations was comparable to 

 that of the Red-eye, but the component phrases had only one or two syllables 

 each, and were slower, softer, and weaker in character. This performance 

 evidently does not truly represent the bird's vocal powers, for Bradford Tor- 

 rey says of it: "The Solitary's song is matchless for the tenderness of its 

 cadence, while in peculiarly happy moments the bird indulges in a continuous 

 warble that is really enchanting. It has, too, in common with the Yellow- 

 throat, a musical chatter suggestive of the Baltimore Oriole's and a pretty 

 trilled whistle." 



No. 134- 



WHITE-EYED VIREO. 



A. O. U. No. 631. Vireo noveboracensis (Gmel.). 



Description. Adult : Above bright olive-green, duller on cervix ; brighter 

 on forehead and rump ; wings and tail dusky, with bright edgings of olive-green ; 

 two yellowish white bars formed by tips of middle and greater coverts ; spurious 

 quill nearly half as long as second primary ; second shorter than sixth ; point of 

 wing formed by third, fourth and fifth ; below white or sordid ; sides and flanks 

 washed with bright yellow ; lores and a ring around eye bright yellow ; bill and 

 feet dark ; iris white, hazel in young. Specimens differ chiefly in the yellowness 

 or sordidness of under parts. Length 4.50-5.25 (114.3-133.3) ; wing 2.45 (62.2) ; 

 tail 1.92 (48.8) ; bill from nostril .28 (7.1). 



Recognition Marks. Warbler size; yellow lores and eye-rings and yellow 

 sides; yellowish white wing-bars, as distinct from V. gilvus, which it nearest re- 

 sembles in point of size; white irises. 



Nest, of usual Vireo construction, suspended from forked twigs, three or 

 four feet high in underbrush or thickets. Eggs, 3 or 4, white, dotted sparingly 

 with reddish brown or dark purple. Av. size, .76 x .56 (19.3 x 14.2). 



General Range. Eastern United States west to the Rocky Mountains. 



