348 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



lichens, which are held in place by caterpillar's silk. Its size is be- 

 tween three and three and a half inches wide, and nearly as deep. It 

 is built in the fork of a horizontal branch, from five to fifteen and 

 sometimes thirty feet above the ground. 



The eggs vary from three to five in number, four being a common 

 set. They are easily distinguished from those of the Redeye and Warb- 

 ling Greenlets by their roseate hue, and are generally more heavily 

 marked, having the same family resemblance, speckled and spot- 

 ted with rosy and chestnut-brown, chiefly at the larger end. A set of 

 four, taken in Franklin county, Ohio, June 2, 1885, measure .82 x .60, 

 .80 X 61, .83 X .58, .79 X .58. 



Mr. Norris has three sets of eggs of this species that have a 

 decided pinkish-buff tinge. One of three, collected near Oxford, Mis- 

 sissippi, April 30, 1885, exhibits the following measurements: .83 x 

 •57) -75 X •54> -76 X .56. Another, of four eggs, from the same locality, 

 taken May 12 ; their sizes are, .78 x .58, .78 x .58, .79 x .58, .78 x .59. 

 The third set was taken by the well-known oologist, "J. M. W." (C. L. 

 Rawson), near Norwich, Connecticut. It consists of four eggs, and 

 their dimensions are, .80 x .61, .82 x .62, .83 x .63, .80 x .59. These 

 have the heaviest roseate tinge of all. 



629. Vireo solitarius (Wils.) [141.] 



Blae-Iieaded Vireo. 



Hab. Eastern North America, north to Fort Simpson {on the Mackenzie River) and Hudson Bay; 

 south in winter to Mexico and Guatemala. 



The Blue-headed or Solitary Vireo breeds chiefly north of the 

 United States ; quite common in Manitoba. It has been found breed- 

 ing in Connecticut and Massachusetts and in some of the Middle 

 States. It is probably a summer resident in Northern Ohio. C. M. 

 Jones found it breeding near Eastford, Connecticut, in May and June, 

 building the nests from five to eight feet above ground, in laurel 

 bushes and hemlock trees. Mr. F. W. Andros records a nest taken by 

 F. T. Lincoln, in Bristol county, Massachusetts, May 30, 1887. 

 The birds, according to the above observers, are close sitters — not 

 easily startled from the nest, frequently permitting themselves to be 

 taken with the hand. The nest of the Blue-headed Vireo is similar in 

 construction to others of the family — a handsome, pendant, cup-like 

 fabric, which is suspended by the brim from the forked twigs of a 

 horizontal branch. The materials used are strips of fibrous bark, 

 leaves, fine dry grass, plant-down, the outside being covered with 

 caterpillar's silk, and sometimes ornamented with mosses and lichens. 



The eggs, which are three or four in number, resemble those of 



