80 VIBEO NOVEBORACENSIS. 



high in the tree tops, where their leisurely movements correspond with their slowly given song. 

 Although the Red-eyed Vireos are generally found at such an elevation, yet 'they often place 

 their nests quite near the ground. They usually select a swaying oak or maple and build their 

 pensile nests in the forks of slender boughs. During this time, and in fact throughout the entire 

 breeding season, both birds keep together, exhibiting considerable solicitude for each other's 

 safety. If one is shot and falls to the ground the survivor alights near it and evinces intense 

 sorrow by every note and action. These Vireos continue to sing until the middle of September, 

 but do not give the full song after July. By the first of October, they depart for the south. I 

 have never met with this species in Florida, but Mr. Boardinan has seen it upon one or two 

 occasions. I have never up to the present time met with the singular West Indian form, but 

 judge from all accounts that it has similar habits to its northern representative. 



VIREO NOVEBORACENSIS. 

 White-eyed Vireo. 



. Vireo Noveboracensii BON., Obs., Wils. ; 1825. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Form, quite robust. Size, rather small. Tongue, thin, horny, but not very acuminate and slightly cleft at tip; 

 but in the single specimen before me, taken from an adult bird, there is not the slightest appearance of any cilia; 

 they would, however, quite likely be present in younger specimens. 



COLOR. Adult. Uniform yellowish-green; brightest on the forehead. Wings and tail brownish, edged with 

 same color as that of the back. Greater and lesser wing coverts, tipped with white, forming bars. The outer webs 

 of the tertiaries are edged with white and the wings are lined with it. Stripe at base of bill, ring around the eye, 

 sides, flanks, under tail coverts, under wing coverts and axillaries greenish-yellow. Remaining under portions, 

 white. Irides, white. 



Young and nestlings, similar to the adult but paler, and with a suffusion of slaty above. The white markings on 

 the wings are also more extended. In these stages the irides are yellowish. Sexes, similar. In all stages the bill 

 is dark brown on the upper mandible, bluish on the lower, and the feet are blue. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Readily known by the uniform greenish-yellow above, accompanied by the bars on the wings and the white 

 irides. Specimens from Florida which breed there are, as remarked under head of V. olivaceus, rather more dusky 

 and have larger bills. Distributed during the breeding season from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic, north 

 to Maine. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of four specimens. Length, 5-25; stretch, 8-25; wing, 2-45: tail, 205; bill, -45; tarsus, 

 75. Longest specimen, 5-50; greatest extent of wing, 8-45; longest wing, 2-55; tail, 2-10; bill, -50; tarsus, -80. 

 Shortest specimen, 5-00; smallest extent of wings, 7-50; shortest wing, 2-40; tail, 2-00; bill, -40; tarsus, -70. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests, peusile, placed on low bushes. The following description is taken from a nest found in Florida, May 8, 

 1872. Composed of fragments of palmetto fronds, leaves and Spanish moss, fastened together with spider's webs 

 and lined with flue grasses. External diameter, 3 inches, internal, 1-75; external depth, 2-50 inches, internal, 1-75. 



Eggs, four in number, oval in form, pure white in color, spotted very sparsely with minute dots, more numerous 

 on the larger ends. Dimensions, from -75 x -55 to -70 x -50. 



HABITS. 



We landed on Key West one sultry day, about noon, and after resting two or three hours, I 

 wandered out to the borders of the town. I had scarcely entered the tangled thicket which skirts 

 the eastern side of the cultivated district, when I heard the peculiar notes of the White-eyed 

 Vireo. They were quite abundant there, as indeed they are in every swampy undergrowth 

 throughout Florida, from the Keys northward, and strangely enough they sing during the entire 

 winter in all these localities. Many of them appear to be constant residents here and breed about 



