SYNONYMY OF V1REO HUTTONI 525 



are peculiarly exposed to danger in their lowly homes ; their 

 ardor exhausts itself when the occasion is past, and what had 

 been excessive solicitude gives way to the simple sprightliness 

 and vivacity, which then appears as an agreeable trait. In 

 the springtime they rival their relatives in brilliancy and ver- 

 satility of song, which must be heard to be appreciated ; it is 

 a curious medley, delivered with great earnestness and almost 

 endless variations, scarcely to be described in words, though 

 several authors have made the attempt with what success the 

 reader who has listened to the performance may judge for him- 

 self on referring to the pages of Nuttall or of Mr. Gentry. 



I have only to add to this sketch of a bird I learned as a boy 

 to know pleasantly, that it is in no wise behind its relatives of 

 the same genus in doing service by destroying noxious insects. 

 Dr. Brewer says that it feeds eagerly upon the destructive 

 canker-worm, and is doubtless of considerable service in 

 restricting the increase of this scourge in some portions of the 

 country. Prof. Aughey has it down in the long list of birds 

 that feed in Nebraska on the still more destructive locusts, 

 stating that he watched them with a field-glass, and saw them 

 tear a large 'hopper in pieces to give to their young ones. Mr. 

 Gentry observes that the nestlings are fed with the larvae of 

 Phalcenidce, as well as with diptera, spiders, aphides, and ants, 

 and that the birds devour immense numbers of coleopterous, 

 hymenopterous, lepidopterous. and dipterous insects his for- 

 mal list of which is sufficiently extensive to prove that we owe 

 to this sprightly tenant of the shrubbery a debt of gratitude 

 that should privilege the bird to scold us, on occasion, as much 



as it pleases. 



Mutton's Oreenlet 



Tireo huttoni 



Vlreo button!, Cass. Pr. Phila. Acad. 1851, 150, pi. 10, f. 1 (Monterey, Gal.). Bd. Great Salt 



Lake, 1852, 328. -Bd BNA. 1858, 339 ; 



ed. of 1860, pi. 58, f. 2.-&J. PZS. 1858, 



302 (Oaxaca).-cZ. PZS. 1862, 19 (La 



Parada, Southern Mexico). #d. Rev. 



AB.1866, 357, fig. Coop.'B. Cal. i.1870, 



121. Coop. Am. Nat. riii. 1874, 17.- 



Salv. Ibis, 1874, 99 (Guatemala). B. 



B. & R, NAB. i, 1874, 387, pi. 17, f. 12. 

 Vlreo huttonii, Coues, Key, 1872, 123, f. 69. 

 Hntton's Vireo, Cass. 1. c., and Authors. FIG. 62. Vireo huttvui, natural size. 



HAB. Mexico, where resident ; north to Fort Tejon, California (Xo.ntus) ; 

 to lat. 38 (Cooper)^ south to Guatemala (Salvin). 



