37 2 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Distribution. The Yellow-throated vireo inhabits eastern North 

 America from southern Saskatchewan, Manitoba, southern Ontario and 

 Maine southward to Texas, Louisiana and Florida, and winters from 

 southern Mexico to Colombia. In New York this species is quite generally 

 distributed as a summer resident throughout the Carolinian and Transition 

 zones, but it is rather uncommon in the colder portions of the Transition 

 zone and is scarcely found at all in the Catskill and Adirondack districts. 

 During the migration period it is somewhat commoner in the southern 

 part of the State than through the summer, arriving from April 27 to the 

 10th of May in the different counties, and departing in the fall from 

 September 16 to 30. 



Haunts and habits. Like the Warbling and Red-eyed vireos, this 

 species is a bird of the tree tops, spending most of its time amid the denser 

 foliage and frequently warbling in full contralto voice his short message 

 translated by Chapman "See me? I am here. Where are you?" 

 Occasionally, especially when the nest is disturbed, he utters a series of 

 noisy, harsh notes and frequently, while singing, a buzzing note is 

 introduced in the song. The nest is suspended from a forked branch 

 15 to 30 feet from the ground. It is composed of plant fibers, grasses, 

 shreds of bark, and lined with bits of lichens and spiders' nests. The eggs 

 are 3 or 4 in number, white, rather sparingly spotted with black, umber 

 and reddish brown, and average about .80 by .60 inches. The first sets 

 of fresh eggs are usually noticed from May 25 to June 6. Occasionally 

 later nests are found even to the 10th of July. I found this vireo nesting 

 in Central Park, New York City, and in the shade trees of Rochester, 

 Medina, Canandaigua and Buffalo. It also nests in the forests at some 

 distance from the abodes of man, but can not be considered as characteris- 

 tically a forest species as the Solitary vireo or even the Red-eyed. In the 

 more thickly populated portions of New York this vireo ranks next after 

 the Red-eyed and Warbling vireos in abundance, but is not so generally 

 distributed as the Red-eye. I have found that in some localities where 

 it was common years ago it has practically disappeared and made its appear- 



