158 LAND-BIRDS. 



belly, wliite. Eye-ring, etc., yeUow. Wings and tail, gener- 

 ally dark ; former with two white bars. 



h. The nest of this species is pensile, but rather larger 

 and deeper than those of the other Vireos, being between 3 

 and 3| inches wide, and nearly as deep. It is placed in the 

 fork of a horizontal branch, from three to fifteen feet above 

 the ground, as often in the orchard as in the woods, though I 

 have found it in pines. It is composed of narrow. strips of 

 thin bark, such as that of the cedar or large vines, is lined 

 with pine needles or grasses, and is usually ornamented on 

 the outside with caterpillar's silk and large pieces of lichen. 

 The four eggs, which are generally laid here in the first week 

 of June, average .80 X .60 of an inch, and are white, with 

 black and either purplish or brownish spots, which are some- 

 times, but not usually, quite numerous (about the crown). 



c. The Yellow-throated Vireos reach eastern Massachu- 

 setts in the second week of May, and leave it in September. 

 They are locally distributed through onr State, and are rare 

 in certain neighborhoods. They are (perhaps) our handsom- 

 est Vireos, and certainly possess great charms as singers. 

 They excel all their relations in architectural taste and skill, 

 and construct a beautiful nest, ornamented outwardly with 

 lichens, plant-down, and caterpillar's silk, but plainly or even 

 roughly finished inside — thus differing from that of the Hum- 

 mingbird, which it otherwise resembles very much, except in 

 being pensile. It is altogether one of the prettiest nests to 

 be found among our specimens of bird-architecture. It is ex- 

 tremely interesting to watch it in the progress of its construc- 

 tion. The birds are occupied about a week in that process, 

 beginning by firmly twining dry grasses around the twigs 

 from which it is to be suspended, and always working down- 

 wards until the frame is completed. It is almost impossible, 

 even on watching them closely, to tell exactly how they weave 

 the grasses together, or how they attach many of their orna- 

 mentations. Wonderful is that innate skill which enables 

 them, with their simply constructed bill alone, to fashion a 

 home for themselves, of which man with his complicatedly 

 organized fingers, and the aid of all his inventions, cannot 



