BIRDS OF THE CAMBRIDGE REGION. t i j 



Specimens of the Migrant Shrike, taken in New England, have been repeat- 

 edly recorded as either 'Loggerhead' or ' White-rumped ' Shrikes. As these 

 names are still in current local use, I have given them both in the above heading. 

 Neither of them, of course, should be applied other than colloquially to the New 

 England bird, at least by those who believe with Dr. Palmer that the form 

 migrans is subspecifically distinct from both ludovicianus and excubitorides. 



i88. Vireo olivaceus (Linn.). 

 Red-eyed Vireo. Red-eye. 



Abundant summer resident. 



SEASONAL OCCURRENCE. 



May 7, 1890, one seen, Cambridge, W. Brewster. 



May 10 — September 10. 

 November 2, 1870, one female taken, Watertown, W. Brewster. 



NESTING DATES. 



May 28 — June 10. 



The Red-eyed Vireo is one of the most abundant and evenly distributed of 

 our summer birds. Its flowing, cheerful, but monotonous, song may be heard 

 at all hours of the day from the middle of May to well into the summer, wher- 

 ever there are woods, groves, orchards, or even isolated clusters of trees, whether 

 on high or low ground, and alike in places remote from and much frequented by 

 man. The Red-eye occurs oftenest and most numerously, however, in deciduous 

 woods, especially those which shade low, damp ground along the borders of brooks 

 or about the edges of swamps or meadows. In Cambridge it still breeds sparingly 

 in or near the College Grounds and throughout the rather densely populated 

 districts immediately to the north and west. Ever since I can remember, a pair 

 have nested every season in the trees immediately about our house, and we have 

 but to go to Mount Auburn or to the Fresh Pond Swamps to hear the songs of 

 three or four males coming from as many different directions at once. After 

 the singing season is over the birds attract comparatively little notice, for, as a 

 rule, they keep high up in the trees, where they are securely hidden by the dense 

 foliage of late summer. The few that remain with us after the first of Septem- 

 ber are most likely to be found in swampy thickets, feeding on the berries of the 

 nightshade or on those of one or another of our cornels. 



