IOWA ORNITHOLOGIST. 



41 



yet new to some of our readers 

 perhaps — and is a beautiful and 

 interesting structure. The site 

 varies considerably in elevation 

 as will be seen from the follow- 

 ing- quotations: "under thirty feet 

 in elm and ash trees;" "swung 

 from the low branch of some 

 bush or tree, between five and 

 ten feet from the ground;" "low 

 branches of large trees or near 

 the tops of saplings;" "near 

 ground between five and twenty 

 feet up;" "lowest limb of maple 

 tree, seven feet up;" "suspended 

 from the fork of a slender limb, 

 usually a few feet up; sometimes 

 quite high;" "almost any height 

 from the ground," 



The "little basket" is "deeper 

 and narrower than that of V. 

 gilous." It is "built of inter- 

 woven vegetable materials, hemp- 

 en fibers and the soft inner bark 

 of trees," a preference being no- 

 ticed by Mr. Shoemaker for the 

 inner bark of the dead elm and 

 ash. Mr. Giddings reports a 

 nest ' 'composed of grass, pieces 

 of hornet's nests and spider webs. 

 The hornet's nest had furnished 

 fully one-half of all the nest. It 

 was lined with hair and fine grass." 

 Another nest described by Mr. D. 

 L. Savage, was "composed of 

 tibers from the milkweed. Grass 

 and cobwebs were profusely used 



on the outside." It was "pen- 

 sile and cup-shaped and lined 

 with reddish fibers." 



The worst that can be gleaned 

 from the reports on our little 

 Greenletis, that it, innocently and 

 unwittingly no doubt, helps to 

 sustain that despicable pest, the 

 Cowbird. 



Mr. D. L. Savage and Mr. 

 Law each report sets of ^ V. ol- 

 ivaceous and i-i Molothrus ater. 

 In the nest before mentioned Mr. 

 Giddings found on June 12, 

 1895, two eggs of the Vireo, and 

 one of the Cowbird. The next 

 day there were three eggs of the 

 Vireo, and two of the Cowbird. 

 He finds the Vireo much imposed 

 upon by the Cow bird. Mr. C. 

 C. Smith says, "With the ex- 

 ception of the Chipping Sparrow, 

 perhaps no bird is so much im- 

 posed upon as this Vireo. I 

 think that the Vireo will desert 

 the nest if the egg of the Cowbird 

 is deposited first because one will 

 often find one or two eggs of the 

 Cowbird in a deserted nest of the 

 Vireo. Two or three eggs of the 

 Vireo with from one, two or three 

 of the Cowbird is the usual num- 

 ber. I have seen the following 

 combinations, 624 1-4 and 495 

 i-i; 624 1-3 and 495 i-i ; 624 1-3 

 and 495 1-2; 624 1-3 and 495 1-3. 



Evidently the Red-eye is not 



