320 The Wilson Bulletin — Xo. 91 



not come near the nest while I was around. It was evident, 

 and this was more thoroughly confirmed by further observa- 

 tion, that my sing'er was the male, and that both sexes shared 

 in the duty of incubation. 



The two birds showed marked individuality in the matter 

 of fearlessness, the male being much more so than his mate.- 

 With some other birds, notably the Rose-breasted Grosbeak 

 and the Marsh Hawk, numerous observations have convinced 

 me that the male is frequently, if not always more fearless 

 in defense of the home than his mate. On the other hand, in 

 the case of the Bluebird, my observations go to show that 

 either sex of a pair may be the more fearless individual. 

 Which is the case with the AVhite-eyed Vireo is a question 

 which will take more observations to determine. The condi- 

 tion in which the male is always the more fearless would 

 seem to be the natural result of evolutionary processes, which 

 would tend to keep the female from harm, and thus insure 

 the successful rearing of the young, even though the male 

 should come to grief in the midst of his defense. 



Frequent visits to the nest found sometimes one bird and 

 sometimes the other incubating. The female always left the 

 nest when I was several feet awav and scolded me from a 

 distant point in the thicket. The scolding usually brought 

 her mate to the vicinity, and he never failed to take up his 

 position on the eggs immediately unless my hand was actually 

 on the nest. As time went on his courage increased until he 

 would actually peck at my fingers before leaving. 



On June 0, I visited the nest, accompanied by my friend, 

 \lv. D. B. Pangburn. We took with us a reflex camera with 

 which to try for more pictures of the bird. I had plenty of 

 good pictures of the bird sitting on the nest, but wished a 

 few of it when sitting in the bushes above or near the nest. 

 On this occasion the bird pecked vigorously at our fingers, 

 and absolutely refused to oblige us by getting off. \\"e finally 

 liad to remove him forcibly. He showed such resistance to 

 this that we could do it in no way except to grasp him by the 

 bill and thus lift him off". In sjiite of this rather rough hand- 



