GREEN, GREENISH GRAY, AND OLIVE 447 



The young are naked when hatched, but feather into 

 a soft mottled gray with glints of blue and green on 

 the upper parts and the under parts nearly white. 

 They are fed on small insects by regurgitation. 



627 a. WESTERN WARBLING VIREO. — Vireo sylva 

 gilva swainsoni. 



Family : The Vireos. 



Length: 5.00-5.50. 



Adults: Upper parts olive grayish; top of head dull ash-gray; rurnp 



and upper tail-coverts pale olive-green ; white streaks through eye ; 



wings and tail plain dusky brown ; sides of head pale brownish ; under 



parts dull white, tinged with olive yellow. 

 Young: Top of head and hind-neck very pale grayish buff; lores and 



superciliary region white ; rest of upper parts huffy, wings with huffy 



bars; under parts pure white, except for yellowish under tail-coverts. 

 Geographical Distribution: Western North America from Great Slave 



Lake to Mexico. 

 California Breeding Range: Through upper Sonoran and Transition 



zones. 

 Breeding Season: May and June. 

 Nest : A strong, durable basket, made of bark strips and fine grasses on 



the inside ; suspended by the brim from forks of horizontal branches. 

 Eggs : 4 or 5 ; white, spotted, with reddish brown and lilac around the 

 larger end. Size 0.70 X 0.55. 



The soft green plumage, unstreaked above and merg- 

 ing to greenish white below, is so characteristic of the 

 Vireo family as to win for them the name of Greenlets, 

 which to the non-scientific observer seems quite as ap- 

 propriate as Vireo. They are small birds, so nearly the 

 color of the leaves as to be observed with difficulty, ex- 

 cept for their friendly habit of stopping to chat with you 

 awhile at close range. Each different species has a dif- 

 ferent remark to make, but whatever is said you are sure 



