OF NEW ENGLAND. 159 
bling Vireo, says that “its voice is not strong, and many birds 
excel it in brilliancy of execution; but not one of them all 
can rival the tenderness and softness of the liquid strains of 
this modest vocalist. Not born ‘to waste its sweetness on the 
desert air,’ the warbling vireo forsakes the depths of the wood- 
land for the park and orchard and shady street, where it glides 
through the foliage of the tallest trees, the unseen messenger 
of rest and peace to the busy, dusty haunts of men.” 
(E) PHILADELPHICUS. (Brotherly-love Vireo.) Philadel- 
phia Vireo. 
(a). This vireo, if a distinct species, differs from Vireo gil- 
vus (D) in a doubtful technicality only. Dr. Coues pronounces 
it ‘almost indistinguishable from gilvus, except by absence of 
spurious quill,” and says that the colors of the latter species 
are ‘‘precisely” the same. Is it not doubtful if one feather 
among hundreds (though, perhaps, an important one) can 
characterize a bird as more than a variety? 
(0). (d). I suppose that the nest, eggs, and song of this 
bird are essentially the same as those of the Warbling Vireo. 
(c). The Philadelphia Vireo is probably a migrant through 
Massachusetts, having been obtained at Philadelphia, also in 
Maine, and at Moose Factory (to the southward of Hudson’s 
Bay and James Bay). I have never seen it here, so far as I 
know, nor have I scen any specimens shot here. I have no 
observations to make upon its habits, which I suppose to cor- 
respond closely to those of its immediate relations. I have 
since learned that this bird has been obtained in this State. 
Mr. Brewster, in the ‘Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological 
Club,” says: “On Sept. 7th, 1875, I shot a female of this 
beautiful little species in Cambridge, Mass. It was feeding in 
company with several individuals of Vireo olivaceus, in a low 
willow tree.” 
In a more recent number, Mr. Ruthven Deane says that 
several specimens have been obtained in Maine, both in June 
and September, and that the Philadelphia Vireos may be con- 
sidered summer-residents about Lake Umbagog. 
