LAND BIRDS. 569 
of various kinds, being particularly fond of the berries of the spice bush or 
benzoin and of sassafras. It also eats raspberries, blackberries, wild 
cherries, viburnum, and a great variety of other fruits, but these usually 
in small quantities, and so far as we know, never of cultivated varieties. 
The bird may be said to have absolutely no bad habits and to confer marked 
and continuous benefits on the horticulturist and farmer. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Bill slightly hooked at tip; rictal bristles evident; no spurious first primary; no wing-bars. 
Adult (sexes alike): Top of head ashy-gray; rest of upper parts olive-green, this color 
edging all the wing and tail-feathers and coverts; a whitish stripe from nostril over eye, 
bordered above by a more or less distinct narrow dark line; lores dark gray or dusky and 
this color sometimes continued as a more or less distinct stripe behind the eye; ear-coverts 
and sides of head buffy-gray, changing to grayish-olive on sides of neck and along sides 
of breast and body; rest of under parts pure white, usually washed with buffy on under 
tail-coverts; wings and tail plain dusky, without bars or spots; bill brownish above, yellowish 
below; iris red. 
Length 5.50 to 6.50 inches; wing 3.10 to 3.30; tail 3.15 to 3.30; culmen .50 to .55. 
256. Philadelphia Vireo. Vireosylva philadelphica Cassin. (626) 
Synonyms: Philadelphia Greenlet, Brotherly-love Vireo.—Vireosylvia philadelphica, 
Cassin, 1851.—Vireo philadelphicus, Baird, 1858, A. O. U. Check-list, 1886, and most 
authors. 
The decidedly smaller size and distinct yellowish tinge below serve 
perfectly to separate this bird from the Red-eyed Vireo, which it resembles 
in the lack of wing bars and the absence of a spurious first primary. The 
iris, however, is brown, not red. 
Distribution.—Eastern North America, north to Hudson Bay; south 
in winter to Costa Rica and Panama. Breeds from Maine, New Hampshire 
and Manitoba northward. 
This is one of our rarest vireos, though probably more numerous than 
our observations would seem to show. It occurs mainly if not entirely 
as a migrant, but our records are too few to enable us to do more than 
indicate the approximate time of its arrival and departure. We have 
records of about twenty-five specimens taken in various parts of the state, 
the majority in the fall. Mr. Trombley records one at Petersburg, May 
4, 1897, and two specimens were taken at the Agricultural College on May 9, 
the same year. Mr. Eddy took a male on the 17th of May, 1897, in Bay 
county, and 8. E. White took two specimens at Grand Rapids, Mich., on 
May 15 and 24, 1890. A specimen was killed on Spectacle Reef Light, 
May 25, 1892. Our earliest record in the fall is from Mackinac Island 
August 6, 1899, when S. E. White secured a specimen. He obtained 
another on August 7, 1890, and saw two more on September 6 of the same 
year. Mr. Swales took a specimen at St. Clair August 28, 1896, and J. 
Claire Wood took specimens in Wayne county, September 3, 10 and 24, 
1905. Specimens were also taken by T. L. Hankinson at Hillsdale May 
13, 1896, and in Ingham county September 14, 1895. Dr. Gibbs records a 
specimen taken at Kalamazoo May 23, 1882, and another taken in Ottawa 
county in May 1879, by W. A. Gunn. This last specimen, identified by 
Ridgway, is probably the first record for the state. One was taken at 
Ann Arbor May 30, 1907 (Wood), and one near Detroit September 27, 
1908 (Taverner); it was recorded also from Isle Royale, Lake Superior 
September 1, 1904 and September 12, 1905 (Peet). 
