188 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



as I have beard it, bears no resembhince to tbat of any other 

 Vureo. It is a prolonged and very pecubar ditty, repeated at fre- 

 quent intervals and always identical. It begins witb a lively and 

 pleasant warble, of a gradually ascending scale, wbich at a certain 

 pitcb suddenly breaks down into a falsetto note. The song then 

 rises again in a single bigb note, and ceases. 



"Mr. Nuttall found a nest of tbis species suspended from tbe 

 forked twg of a wild crab-tree, about ten feet from tbe ground. 

 Tbe cbief mateiials were dead and withered grasses, witb some cob- 

 webs agglutinated together, externally partially covered witb a few 

 shreds of bypnum, assimilating it to tbe branch on wbich it hung, 

 intermingled with a few ■wliite paper-like capsules of tbe spiders' 

 nests, and lined witb a few blades of grass and slender root-fibres." 

 (Beewer.) 



SuBGEKus Vireo Vielllot. 



Vireo Vieill. Ois. Am. Sept. i, 1807, 83. Type. Muscicapanoveboracensis Gmel. 



"SuBGEN. Chab. Wings short and rounded, a little longer than the tail, equal to it, 

 or shorter. First primary distinct and large, from two fifths to halt or more the length of 

 the second, shorter or not longer than the eighth." (Hist. N. Am. B.) 



The two species of this subgenus which are known to occur in 

 Illinois may be distinguished by the following characters : 



1. V. noveboracensis. Two distinct white bands on wing. Lores dusky, bordered 

 above by a yellow streak; a yellow orbital ring. Above olive-green, the nape 

 usually ashy; lower parts white, the sides greenish yellow. Iris white, in adults. 



2. V. bellii. Only one white band on wing, and this indistinct Lores and orbital 

 ring white, the former with a dusky streak. Above grayish olive, more greenish 

 posteriorly ; beneath buffy white, the sides and crissum tinged with sulphur-yellow. 



Vireo noveboracensis (Gmel.) 



WHITE-EYED VIEEO. 

 Popular synonyms. White-eyed Greenlet; Little Green Hanging-bird; Chiokty-beaver. 

 Muscicapa noveborarennis Gmel. S. N. i. 1788, 947. 

 Vireo noveboracensis Bp. 1824.— Aud. Orn. Biog. i, 1831, 328, pi. 63; Synop. 1839. 161; B. 

 Am. iv. 1842, 146, pi. 240.— Nutt. Man. i. 1832, 306.— Baikd, B. N. Am. 1858. 328; Cat. 

 N. Am. B. 1859, No. 248; Review, 1866. 354.— CouES. Key, 1872. 122; Check List, 1873, 

 No. 129; 2d ed. 1882. No. 181; B. N. W. 1874. 100; B. Col. Val. 1878, 620.— B. B. & E. Hist. 

 N. Am. B. i, 1874, 385, pi. 17. fig. 4.— EiDGW. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 143. 

 Vireo cantatrix WiLS. Am. Orn. ii, 1810, 266, pi. IS, flg. 6. 

 Has. Eastern United States, west to edge of Great Plains; winters in Gulf States, 

 Cuba. Bermudas (resident}, and eastern Mexico, south to Guatemala. 



