THE SOLITARY VIREO. 253 



THE SOLITARY VIREO. 



I also find the Solitary Vireo ( Vireo soUtarius) here as a 

 rare migrant in May. Some 5.00 inches long; head ashy; 

 back, greenish-olive; ring around the eye, stripe thence to 

 the nostrils; wing-bars, outer edges of the dusky wing and 

 tail-feathers and under parts, white; sides tinged with yel- 

 low — this Vireo is readily distinguished from the rest, espe- 

 cially by its larger head of plumbeous-blue and the white 

 markings about the eye. As this bird has been found 

 breeding near Boston, it would seem that it might breed 

 here; but I know of no one who has found its nest. Its 

 nidification seems to be principally in Northern New Eng- 

 land and northward. Nuttall, that masterly interpreter of 

 bird-music, says: "Its song seems to be intermediate be- 

 tween that of the Red-eyed and the Yellow-breasted species, 

 having the preai, preai, etc., of the latter, and the fine 

 variety of the former in its tones." Minot says "the music 

 of the Solitary Vireo is delicious." Burroughs speaks of a 

 note of the female as suggesting " the bleating of a tiny 

 lambkin." Mr. J. E. Wagner, an amateur ornithologist of 

 good abilities for observation, in Nova Scotia, says that the 

 song of the male is sometimes very much like certain of the 

 finer strains of the Catbird, and that he is a most constant 

 and spirited singer. 



* The nest, in material, structure and position, is very 

 similar to that of other Vireos. The eggs average ".7V X 

 .58 " of an inch, and are pure white, with a very few minute 

 and generally reddish-brown spots, principally at the larger 

 end." A most elegant nest, just sent me by Mr. Wagner 

 from Nova Scotia, the head and wing of the female accom- 

 panying it, is very similar to that of the Red-eye. It was 

 hung about eight feet from the ground, in the forked limb 

 of a fir bush, is made of usnea, and fine shreds of the thinnest 



