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VIEEO SOLITAEIUS, BLUE-HEADED VIREO. 99 



VIEEO SOLITAEIUS, (Wils.) Vieill. 



Blue-headed or Solitary Vlreo. 



Mnscicapa solitaria, Wils., Am. Orn. ii, 1810, 143, pi. 17, f. 6. 



Vireo solitarius, Vuoill., Nouv. Diet, xi, 1817.— Bp., Syu. 1828,70; List, 1838, '^C.^AuD., 

 Orn. Biog. i, 1831, 147 ; 1839, 432; pi. 28; Syu. 1839, 160.— Gin., B. L. I. 1844, 

 160.— NUTT., Man. i, 1832, 305.— AuD., B. Am. iv, 1842, 144, pi. 229.— Cass., Pr. 

 Phila. Acad. 1851, 150.— Scl., P. Z. S. 18.56, 298 (Cordova) ; 1859, 363 (Xalapa).— 

 Bd., B. N. a. 1858, 340.— Coop. & Suck., N. H. Wash. Ter. 1859, 189.— Scl. & 

 Salv., Ibis, 1860, 31 (Guatemala).— C ah., J. f. O. iii, 486 (Cuba).— Gundl., J. f. 

 0. 1861, 324 (Cuba).— Tfjppb, Pr. Ess. lust, vi, 1871, 117 (Minnesota, breeds).— 

 COUES, Key N. A. Birds, 1872, 121, 66.— Gextry, Pr. Pbihi. Acad. 1873, 354 

 (nest) ; and of most late United States writers. 



Vireosylvia solitaria, Bd., Rev. 1866, 347. — Coop., B. Cal. 117. — Scmioh., Mem. Boat. Soc. 

 1869, 548 (Vera Cruz). 



Lanivireo solitarius, Bd.— B. B. & R., N. A. B. i, 1874, 373. 



Fireo cassini, Xantus, Pr. Pbila. Ac. 1858, 117.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 340, pi. 78, f. 1. ( Var ') ;_ 



Lanivireo solitarius var. cassini, B. B. & R., N. A. B. i, 1874, 377 (considered tenable ' 

 variety). 



Hah. — Whole United States, except Southern Rooky Mountain region, where replaced ° ' <> - 

 by V. var. plumbeus. Canada (Mollwraith, Pr. Ess. Inst, v, 1866, 87). South to Guate-,^?,' 

 mala in winter. Cuba. -^~ 



Lieutenant Warren's Expedition. — 4727-28, mouth of Vermilion River. -^ '^ 



Not obtained by Captain Raynolds' Expedition. vi''?- 



la the paper above quoted, Mi'. Thomas G. Gentry makes the follow- ^ 

 ing observations on the nlditication of this species : ^7f' 



"Audubon, in describing the nest of Vireo solitarius, Vieill., at&rmsi'/f~ . 

 it 'is prettily constructed and lixed in a [)artially pensile manner be- 

 tween two twigs of a low bush, on a branch running horizontally from 

 the main stem, and formed externally of gray lichens, slightly put to- 

 gether, and lined with hair chiefly trora the deer and raccoon.' My 

 experience has been quite different. Out of the many nests which I 

 have seen and examined, I cannot recall a single specimen that will 

 answer to the above description. I have five uests of this species, four 

 of which are perfectly similar in structure; the remaining one formed of ' 

 the culms of a species of Aira, constituting an excei)tional case, and the 

 only one that has ever fallen under my notice. They are all shallow, 

 loose in texture, scarcely surviving the season for which they were de- 

 signed, and placed between two twigs of a cedar or a maple tree at a 

 considerable elevation from the ground, on a branch nearly horizontal 

 to the main axis. They are built entirely of clusters of male flowers of 

 Quercus palustris, which, having performed their allotted function, don 

 their brownish hue at the very period when they can be utilized. 



"Here is evidently a change within a moderately short period, ren- 

 dered necessary by external causes. This necessity may have grown 

 out of inability to procure the favorite materials, or a desire for self- 

 preservation. In the case of the species under consideration, it cannot 

 be denied that the utter inability, without unnecessary physical ettbrt, 

 to procure the hair of the afore-mentioned animals, particularly in sec- 

 tions where they have been compelled to retreat before the advance of 

 man, may have been one of the causes which have induced the change. 

 I am satisfied, however, that it has not been the leading one, but that 

 self preservation has operated in this case for individual and family good. 

 The adaptation of the colors of the female bird to the tints of surround- 

 ing objects, during the trying period of incubation, and the establish- 

 ment of certain resemblances to familiar external objects, are two of the 

 ways in which it manifests itself." 



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