352 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



bird's. The Vireo's eggs are pure white, unmarked, and measure: 

 .72 X .52, .72 X .51, .69 X .52. 



631. Vireo noveboracensis (Gmel.) [143.] 



'White-eyed Vireo. 



Hab. Eastern United States, west to the Rocky Mountains; south in winter through Eastern Mexico 

 to Guatemala; resident in the Bermudas. 



The White-eyed Greenlet is a common species in Eastern United 

 States as far north as Maine and west to Kansas, and occasionally 

 to Eastern Colorado. Breeds throughout most of the Mississippi 

 Valley south of Minnesota. Low swampy places, near the edges of 

 woods, covered with briers, or the tangled thickets of blackberry 

 bushes and wild vines, are its favorite nesting places. The nest is 

 usually a purse-shaped structure, swaying from a forked twig, and is 

 rather large for the size of the bird. It is seldom placed more than 

 three or four feet from the ground, and is composed of a mass of odd 

 and miscellaneous materials, such as straws, bits of decayed wood, 

 blades of grass, mosses, lichens, and various vegetable substances. 

 Wilson nicknamed this bird " Politician," because it frequently used 

 bits of newspaper in the construction of its nest. 



The eggs are three to five in number, speckled with reddish-brown 

 and dark purple on a clear white ground ; the average size is .76 x .56, 

 which is smaller than those of V. Olivaceus. 



632. Vireo huttoni Cass [144.] 



Hotton's Vireo. 



Hab. California, resident. 



This Vireo which resembles the White-eyed Greenlet is found in 

 various portions of California, where it is resident. Concerning its 

 nesting and eggs Mr. William Cooper writes as follows: "Hutton's 

 Vireo (Vireo huttoni) breeds in the vicinity of Santa Cruz, though not 

 in abundance. Retiring in habits, their nests and eggs are rarely 

 found. April 7, 1874, I found a nest placed ten feet from the gound, 

 suspended from a dead branch of a Negwido^ containing three eggs 

 incubated about five days. March 30, 1875, I found another nest 

 placed eight feet from the ground, suspended from the small twigs of 

 a Frangula. The nest — a neat, compact structure, composed of fine 

 vegetable fibres, bits of paper, and grasses covered on the outside 

 with green and gray mosses, lined with fine grasses — measures 3.25 

 inches in diameter outside, 1.75 inside; depth 3.25 outside, 1.50 inside. 



The eggs, four in number, are white (a delicate blush-color before 

 blown), marked with minute dots of reddish-brown, more numerous 

 towards the larger end. They measure respectively, .70 x .52, .70 x .51, 

 .69 X .51, .68 X .52. Two other nests were found, each containing four 



