BLACK-CAPPED VIREO. 
Vireo atricapillus WooDHOUSE. 
Als HIS INTERESTING Vireo was discovered by Dr. G. W. Woodhouse May 26, 
¢ a 1851, near the source of the Rio San Pedro in south-western Texas. Very little 
additional information regarding it has been brought to light until the year 1879, when 
Mr. Wm. Brewster, of Cambridge, Mass., presented an excellent account of the BLack- 
CAPPED VIREO in the ‘Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club.” In that year Mr. 
Edmund Ricksecker of Nazareth, Penn., informed Mr. Brewster that a number of nests 
had been discovered by Mr. W. H. Werner, of South Bethlehem, Penn., in May 1878, in 
Comal County, Texas. The last-named gentleman gave Mr. Brewster the following 
account of the nesting habits of these Vireos: “I first observed the Black-capped Vireo 
in the north-western part of Comal County, Texas, along the Guadelupe River, about 
twenty-three miles north-west of New Braunfels. They were not very plenty; I noticed 
during my rambles ten to twelve specimens in a radius of about ten miles, in the course 
of six weeks. The peculiar song of the male first attracted my attention, and as soon 
as I saw the bird I was sure that it belonged to the Vireo genus. They seemed to 
prefer mountainous districts; at least I always found them in such localities. They 
frequented low brushwood, and built their nests from three to four feet above the 
ground. They were of a very lively disposition, restless, I should say, always flitting 
about from bush to bush, warbling and mimicking other birds like a Mockingbird in 
miniature. They seemed to be very much attached to their nests, and were very tame 
while sitting, so much so that at different times I walked up to the nest and touched 
it with my hand before the bird would leave it.” 
Mr. Brewster describes a nest, which Mr. Ricksecker sent him, in his usual accurate 
manner. ‘It is suspended in the fork of two very slender twigs, and is in every way 
after the usual type of Vireonine architecture. In a few points of detail, however, it 
differs slightly from any Vireo’s nest that I have seen. Although, generally speaking, 
of the ordinary cup-shaped form, the walls are unusually thick and firmly felted, and 
the entrance being very much contracted, the bulging sides arch over to the mouth of 
the nest, giving to the whole a nearly spherical shape. This peculiarity may be of 
an individual nature, though it is conspicuously shown in the specimen represented by 
Mr. Werner’s drawing (Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club. Vol. IV, p. 193, 194. Plate 1). The 
measurements of my nest are as follows: Greatest external diameter, 2.90 inches; 
external depth, 2.25; internal diameter at mouth, 1.30%1.68; internal depth, 1.40; 
greatest thickness of walls, .63 inch. Of the materials which compose it little really 
need be said, save that they are of the general kind and appearance made use of 
by most Vireos; but for the benefit of the critical in such matters, ‘I will present the 
following analysis, premising that, as I have never been in Texas, I am not posted 
on the botany of that State, and consequently feel somewhat incompetent to identify 
