The OoLOGiST. 



'VOL. XII. NO. 2. 



ALBION, N. y., FEB., 1895. 



Whole No. 113 



!!Notes on the Blue-headed Vireo in Massa- 

 chusetts- 



The Blue-headed, or Solitary Vireo 

 [Vireo solitarius) may safely be placed 

 among the first of our woodland song 

 -sters, for his note is far richer and ful- 

 ler in tone than any of our other Vireos, 

 once heard it can never be mistaken. 



The larger number go to the northern 

 -New England states to breed where, in 

 New Hampshire for example, the nest 

 is by no means a rarity. In Massa- 

 chusetts it is a common migrant and is 

 found most often in pine and oak woods 

 where it spends its time in spasmodic 

 bursts of song, occasionally eating an 

 insect if it happens upon one, but sel- 

 dom making a systematic search for 

 food. It breeds in Massachusetts much 

 :more commonly than is generally sup- 

 posed, being, unlike the other Vireos, 

 always extremely partial to a secluded 

 pine grove for the purpose of nidiflca- 

 tion, and is, I ihink, one of those birds 

 that, like the Crested Flycatcher, is 

 yearly becoming more common in Mass- 

 achusetts, although it is probable that 

 the distribution of both birds is some- 

 what local. 



It is the earliest of our Vireos to com- 

 mence house-keeping, almost always 

 having its nest nearly finished by the 

 -end of the third week in May, in fact 

 I took one of their nests on May 19th 

 which contained four fresh eggs. Des- 

 pite its habit of early breeding, I feel 

 convinced that it seldom, or never, has 

 a second set unless the first is taken, 

 when it at once builds another nest, 

 close to the old spot, and rears another 

 brood . How often this would be repeat, 

 ■ed I do not know, as I am not an advo- 

 cate of unlimited collecting. 



I consider it lo be the tamest of our 



birds, as it will never leave the nest 

 without being tilted off by ones finger 

 or a stick, and even then it does not ex- 

 hibit the slightest fear, either hy its ac- 

 tions or in those surest of tale-tellers its 

 eyes. 



The nest, which is pensile, is placed 

 in the crotch of a pine, oak or walnut 

 limb, usually about eight teet from the 

 ground, but varying from seven feet to 

 twenty. It could scarcely be mistaken 

 for that of one of the other Vireos, be- 

 ing much less neatly constructed than 

 the Red-eyed, larger than the White- 

 eyed or the Warbling (besides being in 

 a very different situation), and resem- 

 bling only those of the Yellow-throated 

 which does not, at least in my exper- 

 ience, make a rule of nesting in a pine 

 grove. It is usually built of pine-needles 

 and grass, being roughly lined with 

 pine-needles or fine grass, and is 

 patched on the outside with almost any- 

 thing it can find, but particularly with 

 a kind of dark brown plant down that 

 I find in no other nests. I once found 

 its nest by seeing some six inches of a 

 broad strip of white cotton cloth which, 

 waving from the bottom of it, made a 

 strong contrast to its dark pine-wood 

 background, and also made it very easy 

 to find. This nest was ruthlessly car- 

 ried away, probably by some cruel boy, 

 before the eggs were laid, but, hap- 

 pening to pass the place two weeks 

 later, I saw the bird sitting on a new 

 nest that was placed on the same branch 

 as the first. It is the equal, and super- 

 ior in point of beauty, to the first, being 

 thickly patched with long green moss 

 and suspended from the crotch by the 

 same material; the walls are from half 

 a» inch to an inch in diameter, and the 

 lining is of pine-needles, all pointing 

 the same way, with the small ends all 



