188 VIEEONID^. 



The nest of Vireo calidris is described by Mr. E. Newton ^ as shaped like an inverted 

 cone, and composed outwardly of dried blades o£ grass, dead leaves, and wool, woven 

 round the twigs, to which it was attached, with spiders' webs, lined inside with finer blades 

 of grass, and about three inches and a half in diameter and five in height. The eggs, 

 three in number, are white, with a few black spots of different sizes chiefiy dispersed 

 about the larger end. This nest with its eggs was found on June 6th, 1858, in a man- 

 chioneel tree in the island of St. Croix, and was suspended to the leafy part of a bough. 



2. Vireo olivaceus. 



Muscicapa olivacea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 327 \ 



Vireosylvia olivacea, Scl. P. Z. S. 1855, p. 151 'j 1859, p. 363 'j Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 12*; 



P. Z. S. 1870, p. 836'; 1879, p. 495 ^ Baird, Eev. Am. B. i. p. 333'; Lawr. Ann. Lye. 



N. Y. ix. p. 96 ' ; v. Frantzius, J. f. Om. 1869, p. 295 ' ; Baird, Brew. & Ridgw. N.-Am. B. 



i. p. 363 " ; Sennett, Bull. U.S. Geol. Surv. iv. p. 16 ^\ 

 Phyllomanes olivaceus, Cab. J. f. Orn. 1860, p. 404'^; Gundl. Om. Cub. p. 55". 

 Vireo olivaceus, Dresser, Ibis, 1865, p. 480"; Coues, B. Col. Vail. i. p. 495". 

 Vireo bogotensis, Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. vii. p. 227 ". 

 Vireosylvia bogotensis, Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. viii. p. 6 ". 



Supra olivaceus, pileo cineraceo utrinque fusco marginato, loris fuscis, superciliis sordide albis ; subtus albug, 

 hypooboudriis vix fusco-olivaceo indutis ; rostro et pedibus oomeis. Long, tota 5-0, alse 3-0, caudsB 2-0, 

 rostri a riotu 0-7, tarsi O'T. (Descr. exempl. ex Duefias, Guatemala. Mus. nostr.) 



Ohs. Y. calidri similis, sine stria rictali fusoa. 



Eab. Eastern Noeth America, north to Hudson's Bay, west to the Rocky Mountains ^ ^^, 

 Texas m*. — Mexico, Jalapa {de Oca^); Guatemala ^ Cohan, Dueiias {0. S. & 

 F. B. G.); HoNDUEAS, San Pedro [G. M. Whitely^); Costa Rica, San Jose 

 (Carmiol^^), Dota Mountains (Carmiol); Panama, line of railway (M'Leannan^''). 

 —Colombia 2 6 16; Cuba is. 



Prof. Baird recognized four species of this form in his 'Review of American Birds'''; 

 but this number was reduced to two species, each with one variety, in the ' History 

 of North- American Birds ' i^. Of these, V. olivaceus and V. flavomridis have been 

 unanimously allowed to stand as species distinct from one another ; but the others, to 

 which the names V. agilis and V. cMvi have been applied, have experienced very varied 

 treatment. Dr. Finsch* considers that, putting aside F. flawviridis, only one species 

 can be recognized, which he calls V. olivacea ; the differences in the proportional lengths 

 of the primaries, upon which Prof. Baird placed so much stress, he looks upon as 

 individual variations not to be associated with the birds of any one district. Our 

 selected series of Vireos of the V. olivaceus type consists of twenty specimens ; and 

 these are separable into two, perhaps three, races by the test of their wings. First we 

 have the true V. olivaceus with the outer quill about equal to or a little shorter than 

 the fourth. This is the North- American bird, which extends, probably in winter only, to 



* P. Z. S. 1870, p. 565. 



