THE OOLOGIST. 



13 



Western Warbling Vireo . 



This active little bird is quite com- 

 mon in Benton County, Oregon. I 

 think this is the same as the eastern 

 Warbling Vireo, only it has not paid so 

 much attention to dress since it came 

 west and its coat has turned palei*, but 

 I do not think that is any reason why 

 ornithologists should say it is not like 

 its brothers and sisters in the east. To 

 me it is one of the most intei'esting spe- 

 cies. It is a great pleasure to sit on 

 the mossy bank of a stream in a maple 

 wood under the wide spreading branches 

 of a tree, with the June sun making lit- 

 tle spots of gold where it breaks through 

 the branches and nothing breaks the 

 silence but the songs of the birds min- 

 gled with the rippling of the water as 

 it dances over a fallen limb or stone. 

 As one looks up through the bright 

 green foliage, he sees something to 

 complete his enjoyment. It is a Warb- 

 ling Vireo, flitting through the branch- 

 es, warbling its exquisite little melody 

 as it peeps' under the leaves and limbs 

 for insects. If one will keep his eyes 

 on it he will presently see it with some- 

 thing in its bill. It will flit from limb 

 to limb till it comes to its nest and then 

 it will quickly deposit the material that 

 it has gathered. Then it flits away 

 again in the same fashion. If you fail 

 to locate the nest and do not see what 

 it did with the material watch it again. 

 It will soon bring more material for its 

 nest and you will be more apt to find 

 the nest than you were the first time, 

 for you will know about where it is. If 

 you watch it closely the first time, you 

 will rarely have to watch it the second. 

 Most birds are very shy when thpy are 

 building, and when one does see them 

 with material for their nests, they fly 

 so far that one cannot keep track of 

 them. 



This Vireo is not at all shy and will 

 come quite close without seeming to 

 notice one, but when it is disturbed it 



will set up a ch-ee and it will some times 

 follow one repeating ch-ee over and 

 over. I once watched a Vireo go to its 

 nest, or rather what looked like a fork- 

 ed limb with a spider's web on it. At 

 first I thought the bird had gone there 

 to get some of the web for her nest, but 

 she worked at it a moment and flew 

 away without it. In a little while she 

 returned with something in her bill and 

 left it there. I concluded that I would 

 visit that spider's web again, which I 

 did in twelve clays, but instead of a 

 spider's web there was a nice nest 

 which contained three slightly incubat- 

 ed eggs. I have found a good many 

 nests of this species and all of them 

 but two were found by watching the 

 birds go to them. I have found three 

 nests, in maple shade trees in town. 

 One of them was about ten feet from 

 the ground and was directly over a 

 public side-walk where people fre- 

 quently passed. [ have also found 

 them in the deep forest far from the 

 habitation of man. 



1 think the best time to look for eggs 

 is the middle of June or a little earlier. 

 The nest is made of cow hair, bits of 

 paper, strips of grass, bits of yellow- 

 jackets nest's and any soft cottony sub- 

 stance that the bird can get. It is lin- 

 ed with fine round grass and is nearly 

 always placed on (he lower limb of a 

 maple, from six to twenty-five feet from 

 the ground. It is hung to a fork about 

 the size of those used by boys for sling- 

 shots. The eggs are pure white, spar- 

 ingly spotted around the larger 

 end with several shades of brown 

 varying from dark to reddish- 

 brown. Spots are sometimes scattered 

 over the entire surface becoming thiner 

 and smaller as they near the smaller 

 end. The number of eggs in a set is 

 usually four. I have only found one 

 set of three and none of five. A set 

 measures .74x 54, .74x.53, .75x.56, .73x 

 .53. Wade H. Pipes, 



Sunny View, Oregon. 



