NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 423 



species breeding, it generally frequents brushwood and builds the nest low down, 

 about five feet from the ground, in elm, oak, and mesquite trees. It is suspended 

 from a forked twig, after the usual type of Vireo architecture, is hemispherical in 

 shape, and composed of broken fragments of bleached leaves, strips of bark, grasses, 

 catkins, spider's or caterpillar's silk. These are all firmly interwoven and form 

 thick walls, making a nest that belongs to the higher order of bird architecture. 

 The eggs are usually four, pure white, and measure .72x.52. Mr. Norris has three 

 sets of eggs of this species in his cabinet. One set, containing four eggs, was col- 

 lected June 5, 1886, in Comal county, Texas. The nest was in a mesquite tree, very 

 low down. The eggs are pure white, entirely unmarked. They measure: .69x.51, 

 .69x.51, .68x.53, .71x.52. Another set, also of four eggs, was collected June 18, 1888, 

 in the same locality, by G. B. Benners. The nest was in a Spanish oak tree, three 

 feet from the ground. The eggs are also pure white, entirely unmarked: . .69x.54, 

 .70x.55, .69x.53, .70x.54. The third set was taken June 5, 1888, by Mr. Bennere, in 

 the same locality. The nest was in a Spanish oak, six feet from the ground. The 

 set consists of three eggs and two of the Dwarf Cowbird's. The Vireo's eggs are pure 

 white, unmarked, and measure: .72x.52, .72x.51, .69x.52 inches. 



631. WHITE-EYED VIREO. Vireo iiovcboracensis (Gmel.) Geog. Dist. East- 

 ern United States, west to the Rocky Mountains; south in winter through Eastern 

 Mexico to Guatemala; resident in the Bermudas. 



The White-eyed Greenlet is a common species in Eastern United States as far 

 north as Maine and west to Kansas, and occasionaly to Eastern Colorado. Breeds 

 throughout most of the Mississippi Valley south of Minnesota. Low swampy places, 

 near the edges of woods, covered with briers, or the tangled thickets of blackberry 

 bushes and wild vines, are its favorite nesting places. The nest is usually a purse- 

 shaped structure, swaying from a forked twig, and is rather large for the size of the 

 bird. It is seldom placed more than three or four feet from the ground, and is 

 composed of a mass of odd and miscellaneous materials, such as straws, bits of de- 

 cayed wood, blades of grass, mosses, lichens and various vegetable substances. 

 Wilson nicknamed this bird "Politician," because it frequently used bits of news- 

 paper in the construction of its nest. The eggs are three to five in number, speckled 

 with reddish-brown and dark purple on a clear white ground; the average size is 

 .76x.56, which is smaller than those of V. olivaccus. 



63 la. KEY WEST VIREO. Vireo noreboracensis maynardi Brewst. Geog. 

 Dist. Southern Florida. 



Mr. William Brewster dedicated this bird to M. C. J. Maynard, the ornithologist 

 and author. It is very similar to the preceding species, but the coloration is generally 

 grayer above, and the yellow beneath paler, with other structural characteristics, 

 described from the study and comparison of about one hundred and fifty specimens.* 

 The bird breeds on Key West; its nesting and eggs being indistinguishable from 

 those of the White-eyed Vireo. 



632. HTTTTON'S VIREO. Vireo huttoni Cass. Geog. Dist. California, resi- 

 dent. 



This Vireo which resembles the White-eyed Greenlet is found in various por- 

 tions of California, where it is resident. Concerning its nesting and eggs Mr. 

 William Cooper writes as follows: "Hutton's Vireo, Vireo button t, breeds in the vi- 



* Cf. Brewster, Auk, IV, pp. 148-149. 



