370 NORTH AMEIIICAN BIRDS. 



and roarlios Xew Kiiu'liiiid <'arly in May. Tlio path of its northern mi«^ra- 

 tions, and of its return, is sonicwlial in (loul>t. It is abnndant in winter, 

 atH'onlin<4 to Suniiclirast, alnait Ori/aba, and j.rohahly enters Texas and 

 passes north and eastahtn^' tlie Mississipj»i and the Oliio IJivers. In certain 

 |)orti()ns of the conntrv this s]><H'ies is evidently '^r* the increase, l»cconnn<]( 

 more and more connnon as the country is settk**!, and towns and villa^'es 

 sprin<j up. 



Tile WarldinjT Viroo builds its nest usually in more elevated positions than 

 anv others of this family. For the most part in the vicinity of dwellings, 

 often over fretpiented streets, they susjmmkI their elaborately woven and beau- 

 tiful little basket-like nest, secnrti from intrusion from their human neij^dibors, 

 and protected by the near ])resence of man from all their more dreaded ene- 

 mies. Audulton narrates, in an interesting' manner, the luiildin^ of their nest 

 by a }>air of these birds on a ])oplar-tree, near his window, in Camden, N. .1. 

 It was suspended between the body of the tree and a branch comin«,' out at 

 an acute ani^le. The pair were at work, morning an('. evening:, ei^dit days, 

 first attachinj4 slender Idades of «j:rass to the knots on the bmnch and the 

 bark of the trunk, and thence working downward and outward. They varied 

 their materials, fr'.)ni time to time, until at last he traced them, after a ])ro- 

 lonjjjed absence, to a distant haystack, from which they broui^ht fine, slender, 

 dry jijrasses, with which they completed and lined their nest. 



The nests of the Warblinj^ Vireo, while they resendde closely those of the 

 other sjiecies in all the characteristics of this well-marked family, are yet, as a 

 rule, more carefully, neatly, and closely built. Tiiey are usually suspended at 

 the height of from thirty to fifty feet, in the fork of twigs, under and near the 

 extremity of the tree-top, often an elm, protected from the sun and storm 

 by a canopy of leaves, and quite out of reach of most enemies. They vary 

 little in size, being about two inches in height and three and a half in their 

 greatest diameter, narrowing, toward their junction with the twigs, to two 

 inches. They are all secured in a very firm maimer to the twigs from which 

 they are suspended by a felting of various materials, chiefly soft, flexible, 

 flax-like strij)s of vegetable til)res, leaves, stems of plants, and strips of bark. 

 With these are interwoven, and carried out around the outer portions of the 

 nest, long strips of soft flexible bark of deciduous trees. They are softly and 

 compactly filled in antl lined with fine stems of plants. 



The eggs are usually five in number, and, like those of all the Vireos, are 

 of a brilliant crystal-white, sparingly s]»otted at the larger end with markings 

 of dark brown, and others of a lighter shade. They are less marked with 

 spots than usual in the genus, and are often entirely unspotted, and pure 

 white. Occasionally, however, they are found with well-marked blotches 

 of reddish -brown. They vary in length from .75 to .70 of an inch, and 

 average about .bo in tlieir breadth. 



