144 Contributions from the Charleston Museum. 



saw and heard was a vireo, it was undoubtedly the Blue-headed 

 (Lanivireo solitarius) or the Mountain Solitary Vireo (Lanivireo 

 alticola) . 



The Red-eyed Vireo is not as abundant in the breeding season 

 as the White-eyed Vireo, but at least a dozen pairs may be found 

 breeding in a forest of a hundred acres. This species is a persist- 

 ent songster and even during the hottest part of the day, when 

 most of the other denizens of the forest are silent, the Red-eyed 

 Vireo sings for hours at a time. 



The nest is built in some forest tree and is pendant, being sus- 

 pended from a forked limb about eighteen feet above the ground. 

 It is constructed of bark strippings, pieces of rotten wood, firmly 

 wound with dead threads of Spanish moss, and lined with pine 

 needles and fine grass. The eggs are three in number, pure white, 

 with a few specks or spots of dark reddish brown at the larger 

 end. They measure .85 X .50. I have occasionally taken eggs that 

 were unmarked. Two broods are raised, for I have seen young 

 birds in May and July. The eggs are laid early in May in some 

 forward seasons, but I have watched birds that did not commence 

 to build nests until the middle of May. 



The controlling influence upon the migration of this species 

 in autumn is the presence or absence of the fruit of the magnolia 

 (Magnolia faetida) , which begins to ripen during the first week 

 in September, and continues through October, many seeds 

 remaining in the cones until November. The color is coral red, 

 and some specimens are about three-fourths of an inch in length, 

 but the great majority average about half an inch. These seeds 

 contain a large amount of oil, and when this vireo has been feed- 

 ing upon them for any length of time, it becomes very fat. There 

 are many beautiful trees on this plantation, and I have often sat 

 on the steps of the old Colonial house and watched these birds 

 feeding. The tree with the most fruit attracts nearly all the vi- 

 reos in a radius of perhaps a quarter of a mile, and I have often 

 counted as many as fifty in one tree. As long as the fruit is to 

 be had in abundance, the vireos remain, but as soon as the sup- 

 ply becomes scarce or exhausted, they depart. These birds 

 are all migrants from points far to the northward of South Car- 

 olina, and I have never detected this species later than October 20. 



The Red-eyed Vireo breeds from Florida northward to the 

 Fur Countries, and winters from southern Florida southward 

 to Brazil. 



