420 NB8TS AND EGGS OP 



628. YELliOW-THBOATElb VIBEO. Vifeo flavifrons Vieill. Geog. Diat.— 

 Eastern United States west to the Great Plains; south in winter to Costa Rica. 



The Yellow-throated Greenlet is common in the woodlands of Eastern United 

 States. Mr. McUwraith gives it as a summer resident of Southern Ontario, but is 

 hy no means common. Colonel N. S. Goss records it as a quite common summer 

 resident of Kansas; begins laying about the 20th of May. He states that the bird 

 inhabits the timber away from settlements. In the Eastern states it is found fre- 

 quenting and nesting in the orchards and gardens, as well as in wooded country. 

 It is a common summer resident in Ohio, especially the northern portion. It fre- 

 quents secluded woods and the banks of ravines and streams, and appears to be 

 partial to oak forests. The nest of this species is pensile, like those of other Vireos, 

 but the architectural taste and skill displayed in its building is perhaps superior to 

 any of the family. It is composed of strips of thin bark, grasses, etc. The outside 

 of the structure is beautifully adorned with lichens, which are held in place by cater- 

 pillar's silk. Its size is between three and three and a half inches wide, and nearly 

 as deep. It is buL. in the fork of a horizontal branch, from five to fifteen and some- 

 times thirty feet above tne ground. The eggs vary from three to five in number, 

 four being a common set. They are easily distinguished from those of the Red-eye 

 and Warbling Greenlets by their roseate hue, and are generally more heavily marked, 

 having the same family resemblance, speckled and spotted with rosy and chestnut- 

 brown, chiefly at the larger end. A set of four, taken in Franklin county, Ohio, 

 June 2, 1885, measure .8^x.60, .80x.61, .83x.58, .79x.58. The average size is .83x.61 

 inches, 



629. BLTJE-HEADED VIREO. yireo solitarivs (Wils.) Geog. Dist.— 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 ii\ Manitoba. It has been found breeding in Connecticut and Massa- 

 chusetts 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 flve to eight feet above ground, in laurel bushes 

 and hemlock trees. Mr. F. W. Andros records a nest taken by P. T. Lincoln, in 

 Bristol county, Massachusetts, May 30, 1887. The birds, according to the above ob- 

 servers, 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 ma- 

 terials 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 some of the 

 larger Vireos., They are white, with a faint creamy tinge; pointed at the smaller 

 ends; sometimes forming wreaths of chestnut specks around the larger portions. 

 The average size Is .81x.62. 



629(1. CASSIN'S VIREO. Vireo soUtarius cassinii (Xantus.) Geog. Dist.— 

 Western United States, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. 



During the breeding season, which is in May, June and July, this bird is con- 

 fined chiefly to the Pacific coast region. Mr. A. W. Anthony gives it as a common 

 summer resident of Washington county, Oregon, where it frequents the coniferous 



