Jan., 1909. Birds of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 637 



Messrs. Kunilien and Hollister consider it " A rare summer resident 

 in southern Wisconsin." (Birds of Wisconsin, 1903, p. 108.) 



The nest is pensile, usually suspended from the fork of a branch 

 in bashes or low trees. The eggs are 3 or 4, white with a few scat- 

 tered spots of black and brown chiefly at the larger end, and measure 

 about .75 X .54 inches. 



299. Vireo bellii Aud. 

 Bell's Vireo. 

 Distr.: " Upper Mississippi Valley and Great Plains, from Dakota, 

 Minnesota, Illinois, and western Indiana, southwestward to Mexico." 

 (A. O. U.). 



Adult: Size, small ; back and rump, olive green ; crown, olive, tinged 

 with ashy, but slightly different from the color of the back; under 



Bell's Vireo. 



parts, pale greenish yellow, deepest on the sides and flanks, and shad- 

 ing to whitish on the chin and middle of the belly; inner quills, with 

 pale edges; first primary, about half as long as second; greater and 

 middle wing coverts, narrowly edged with whitish, forming incon- 

 spicuous wing bands, one of which is at times hardly noticeable. 



Sexes similar. 



Length, 4.75; wing, 2.20; tail, 1.90; bill, .36. 



Bell's Vireo is a not uncommon summer resident in Illinois. Both 

 Prof. Ridgway and Mr. Nelson record specimens taken on Fox Prairie, 

 Richland Co., Illinois. 



Mr. H. S. Swarth found it not uncommon and breeding near 

 Joliet, Illinois, in June, 1906. Several nests were taken, one con- 

 taining four eggs. Mr. Isaac E. Hess informs mc he found a nest with 

 four eggs on July 4, 1899, near Philo, Champaign Co., Illinois. Mr. 

 E. W. Nelson procured a specimen near Chicago, June 25, 1875, 

 and the same year Mr. H. K. Coale obtained a specimen, which 

 had been shot by a boy in Chicago. 



