392 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



only one indistinct Kind on the win^, instead of two sharply defined ones. 

 Tiie Lill is nnieh smaller, and the tail longer, than in piflhuH. V. belli is 

 less ashy above and less pure white beneath, the sides much more yellow- 

 ish ; the win*; is also lonwr, and the tail much shorter. V. vicinior is 

 nuich larger, with the wing longer than the tail, instead of shorter ; the ash 

 above has a bhiish instead of a greenish cast ; the lores are wholly grayish- 

 white, etc. 



Habits. The Least Vireo is a recently described species of its genus, and 

 one in regard to \»hose historv comparativelv little has been ascertained. It 

 was fiist met with at Cape St. Lucas by Mr. Xantus, and described by Dr. 

 Cones in 181)0. Dr. Cones assigns as its habitat Lower and Southern Cali- 

 fornia, Sonora, and Arizona, at least as far north as Fort Wiiipple. Dr. 

 ( 'ooper also found it at Fort Mohave. Dr. Cones met with it fifty miles south 

 of Fort Whip]>le, where he found it breeding abundantly. He gives no in- 

 formation in regard to its habits. Dr. Cooper states that he found it rather 

 common along the ujiper part (^f Mohave IJiver, in June, 18G1 ; and in the 

 following s|)ring, about xVpril 20, they began io arrive at San Diego in con- 

 sidemble nund)ers. In its habits Dr. Cooper thinks it greatly resembles V. 

 fji/nts, though it ditTers entirely in its song. The notes of those that he heard 

 singing resembled very nuich those of the Polioptilas uttering a quaint mix- 

 ture of the notes of the Wrens, Swallows, and Vireos. They also seem to 

 possess more or less of imitative powers. At Sjicramento he saw and heard, 

 in the v/illows along the river, individuals which, from their peculiar notes, 

 he had no doubt were of this s})ecies, but he did not verify his conjectures. 

 His suppositions were confirmed later by the observations of Mr. Ifidgway, 

 who states that he found these l)irds the most abundant as well as the most 

 characteristic (Jreenlet in the vicinity of Sacramento. It is a species, he 

 adds, easily recognized, being in all respects quite distinct from any other. 

 The character of its notes, as well a.s its habits, show it to be a true Vireo. 

 Its song, though weaker, bears a grejit resemblance to that of the White-eyed. 

 A nest of this species was found by him near Sacramento. It was placed 

 al)out three feet from the ground, in a low Inish in a copse of willows. Like 

 all the nests of this genus it was pensile, being attached to and suspended 

 from the twigs of a bmnch. 



Two nests of this interesting S])ecies were also obtained near Camp Gmnt, 

 Arizona, in 1867, by Dr. ¥.. Palmer. They are wrought like all the nests of 

 this kind, below the small forked branches of a tree, suspended from the ex- 

 tremity of its twills. Tliev each have a diameter of about three and a half 

 inches, a height of two, with a cavity an inch and a half deej) and two wide. 

 The external portion, like the nests of the V. belli, is wrought with woven 

 hemp-like vegetable fibres, strongly bound around the ends of the twigs and 

 covering the entire exterior. Within this is placed a strong, finnly made 

 basket, composed of slender strips of bark and long, fine, and flexible pine- 

 needles, with a lining of finer materials of the same. In one of these nests 



