GREEN, GREENISH GRAY, AND OLIVE 451 



632. HUTTON VIREO.— Fireoktdtoni. 



Family : The Vireos. 



Length: 4.25-4.75. 



Adults : Lores and eye-ring dull whitish ; upper parts plain olive-brown ; 



green on rump, wings, and tail ; narrow white wing-bars ; under parts 



dull whitish, tinged on sides with olive-yellow. 

 Yaimg : Similar, but upper parts lighter brown, sides of head buffy 



brown ; under parts paler. 

 Geographical Distrilfution : California. 

 California Breeding Range : West of the Sierra Nevada in upper Sono- 



ran and Transition zones. 

 Breeding Season : March to June. 

 Nest : Neat, compact structure ; made of fine vegetable fibres, bits of 



paper, and grasses ; covered on the outside with moss, and lined with 



grasses ; placed in trees, from 8 to 10 feet from the ground. 

 Eggs : 4 ; white, finely dotted with reddish brown, especially at the 



larger end. Size 0.69 X 0.51. 



In the valleys and foot-bills of California the Hutton 

 Vireo builds its nest among the branches of the scrub 

 oaks. In the materials used it is quite unlike any vireo 

 nest found in the East, for moss forms a large part of its 

 composition. Sometimes the external adornment alone 

 consists of bits of moss woven in with shreds of spider 

 web ; but occasionally the entire nest will be so draped 

 as to look like a bunch of moss tangled at the fork of a 

 light branch, and will deceive the eyes of an expert 

 collector. But the bird himself has no talent for mis- 

 leading you. His clear, emphatic warble tells you where 

 he is and what he is doing ; for, in the tenderest phras- 

 ing of it, there comes an undertone of business, and sure 

 enough he is prosaically hunting his dinner while sing- 

 ing between mouthfuls. Under every one of the green 



