Plate XXIII. 



Fig. 1. VIREO QILVUS-Warbling Vireo. 



The Warbling Vireo is a common summer-resident throuo-hout the state. In the neishborhootl of 

 Circleville, they arrive the third or fourth week in April, and remain until the first of October, and 

 sometimes even until the month is well advanced. Early in May the site is selected for the nest, and 

 if the weather is favorable, as it generally is, nidification begins at once. As a rule, but one brood is 

 reared during the season. If the nest is accidentally destroyed, or the eggs broken or carried away, a 

 second nest is built and another set of eggs deposited, as is the habit with all birds with which 1 am 

 acquainted. If the second effort is interfered with, a third nest may be constructed, and, if it becomes 

 necessary, perhaps even a fourth, so intent are they upon accomplishing their summer-mission. 



LOCALITY: 



In the country, the tree upon which the nest is placed is usually situated in a cultivated field, or 

 beside a road in the near neighborhood of a dwelling. In towns, the favorite site is a shade-tree of a 

 street or yard. The tree selected is usually a large one with dense foliage. The silver-poplar seems to 

 be the favorite; next to it, the maple. In villages where poplars are grown for shade, I have always 

 found this Vireo more abundant than elsewhere in the neighborhood. Dense woods are not frequented 

 during the summer ; it is even exceptional to find a nest about the border of a lai^ge woods. A few 

 of these birds are, however, usually to be found breeding in every belt of large trees growing along the 

 bank of some water-course. 



POSITION : 



The nest, which is always pensile, is built in a small, stout, horizontal fork, formed either by the 

 bifurcation of a branch, or by an ofi'shoot from it. Sometimes it is supported by two parallel twigs, 

 growing but a few inches apart, from the same stem. It may be near the extreme end of the limb, or 

 close to the main trunk ; ordinarily, it is about midway between these two points. Its distance from the 

 ground is usually between twenty and forty feet. Dr. J. M. Wheaton informs me that he has seen one 

 nest at least seventy feet from the ground. Probably it is sometimes much lower than twenty feet. 



MATERIALS : 



The foundation of a typical nest, built in the country at a distance from any dwelling, consists of 

 long, flaxen fibres from the inner bark of trees and weeds, and slender blades of grass ; these are wrtipped 

 over and around the supporting twigs, and interwoven among themselves, until a basket-like structure is 

 formed of the proper proportions. In this is placed a layer, about half an inch thick at the bottom, 

 becoming thinner as the rim is approached, of bits of fibres, grass, plant-down, and such other soft, vege- 

 table material as can be procured, and suits the taste of the builder. The entire cavity is then lined 

 with wiry grass, and sometimes horse-hair, or both combined. The grass is that usually called roller- 



93 



