370 NORTH AMI'JIUCAN niUD.S. 



iiiiil roaolipa Xow Enu'land cailv in ^fay- TIio pntli of its iinrtliciii mif^m- 

 tidiis, iiiid III' its ri'tiini, is soiiit'w liiil in doiilit. It is abuiuliiiit in winter, 

 aoconlinj^' to Sumichrast, about Ori/.alia, and probably enters Texa" and 

 passes north and uastalon*; the Mississippi and tlie Oliio Itivers. In certain 

 portions of tiie conntry tiiis species is evith'ntly on the inrreaso, beeoinin<i( 

 more and more common as the country is settled, and towns and villaj,'us 

 spring up. 



T!ie Warbling Virco builds its nest usually in more elevated positions than 

 any others of this family. For tlie most part in the vicinity of dwellings, 

 often over freiiuented streets, they suspend their elaboratidy wo\ :'n and beau- 

 tiful little bnsket-like nest, secure from intrusion from their human neighlnirs, 

 and i)rotC('ted by the near jjreseuce of man from all their more dreaded enc;- 

 mies. Audubon narrates, in an interesting maimer, the buihling of their nest 

 by a ]tair of these birds on a poplar-tree, near his window, in Caimleii, N. .1. 

 It M'as suspended between the body of the tree and a branch coming out at 

 an acute angle. The ])air were at work, morning and evening, eight days, 

 tirst attaching slender blades of grass to the knots on tlui Iminch and the 

 l)ark of the trunk, and thence working downward and outward. They varied 

 their materials, from time to time, until at last he traced them, after a pro- 

 longed al)sence, to a distant haystack, from which they l)rought fine, slender, 

 dry grasses, with which they completed and lined their nest. 



The nests of the Warbling A'ireo, while they resemble closely those of the 

 other species in all the characteristics of this well-marked family, are yet, as a 

 rule, more carefully, neatly, and closely iiuilt. They are usually suspended at 

 the height of from thirty to fifty feet, in the fork of twigs, under and near the 

 extremity of the tree-top, often an elm, protected from the sun and storm 

 by a canopy of leaves, and quite out of reach of most enemies. They vary 

 little in size, being about two inches in height and three and a half in their 

 greatest dianuiter, narrowing, toward their Junction with the twigs, to two 

 inches. They are all secured in a very lirm manner to the twigs from which 

 they are suspended by a I'elting of various materials, chiefly soft, flexible, 

 flax-like strips of vegetalile fibres, leaves, stems of plants, and strips of bark. 

 With these are interwoven, and carried out around the outer portions of the 

 nest, long strips of soft flexible bark of deciduous trees. They are softly and 

 compactly filled in and lined with fine .stems of plants. 



The eggs are usually five in number, and, like those of all the Vireos, are 

 of a brilliant crystal-white, sparingly spotted at the larger end with markings 

 of dark brown, and others of a lighter shade. They are less marked with 

 si)ots than usual in the genus, and are often entirely unspotted, and pure 

 white. Occasionally, however, they are found with well-niarked blotches 

 of reddish -brown. They vary in length from .75 to .70 of an inch, and 

 average about .55 in their breadth. 



