Notes from Field and Study 



207 



days old, I was confined to the house for 

 two or three days, and when I returned, the 

 nest was empty. 



I tried to feel that the young birds had 

 left the nest safely, but' always had mis- 

 givings that they had been devoured, as I 

 couJd see nothing of them in the vicinity. 

 Later, I found two young, querulous Vireos 

 calling for food, and tried to believe they 

 were mine. I watched next season in vain 

 for her return. It has been a great regret 

 to me that I did not have her photographed. 

 I preserved the dainty little nest in mem- 

 ory of a very pleasant incident. — Anne E. 

 Perkins, M.D., Gowanda, N. Y. 



Bell's Vireo 



Bell's Vireo has the characteristic retir- 

 ing habits of all the Vireos, but differs 

 from them in regard to its association with 

 man. It is not found in cities or towns, 

 but in some plum thicket on a country 

 hillside, or among the wild gooseberry 

 bushes in a ravine. There, too, it usually 

 builds its home and rears its family. Issu- 

 ing from such a place, his coarse, but brisk 

 and pleasing, song greets the bird enthu- 



siast as he tramps over the hills in the hot 

 mid-day sun. 



Its nest is suspended from a horizontal 

 crotch of a wild plum tree, usualh' about 

 three feet from the ground. Sometimes, 

 however, it places it in a gooseberry bush 

 or in a patch of 'buckbrush' (snowberry). 

 It resembles very much the Red-eye's nest, 

 perhaps it is slightly smaller, and is much 

 deeper than that of the Warbling Vireo. 

 Leaves, plant fibers and fine grasses are 

 used in its construction. 



On June i, 1910, I found an unfinished 

 nest of this species. On June 11, when I 

 returned with some companions, the bird 

 was sitting on three eggs. 



My next visit was on June 18, and again 

 I found the old bird sitting. After several 

 exposures from a distance of a few feet, I 

 placed the camera so that the lens was 

 only about eighteen inches distant, making 

 a number of exposures at one-half second 

 each, one of which is the picture herewith 

 printed. The day was hot, so that the bird 

 was standing in the nest and had its bill 

 slightly opened while panting. It seemed 

 so tame that, out of curiosity I cautiously 

 reached out my hand and touched the end 



BELL'S VIREO STANDING ON NEST 



