The Red-eyed Vireo 
General Range. —North and South America. Breeds from central British 
Columbia, southern Mackenzie, northern Ontario, etc., south to southeastern 
Washington, eastern Wyoming, eastern Colorado, western Texas, northern Cohuila, 
and central Florida; migrates through Yucatan, eastern Mexico, and Central America, 
to Colombia and Ecuador, and east to southern Brazil. Accidental in California, 
Nevada, Greenland, and England. 
Occurrence in California. —One record: San Diego, Oct. 6, 1914, adult male 
taken by Laurence M. Huey. 
Authorities.—Huey, Condor, vol. xvii., 1915, p. 58 (San Diego, Oct. 6, 1914, 
one spec.); Coues , Birds Col. Val., 1878, p. 495 (syn., desc., habits, song, nest and eggs, 
food); Cooke, U. S. Dept. Agric., Bull. no. 185, 1915, p. 36, figs. 18, 19, maps (distr. 
and migr. route). 
IN ALL probability the single example of this species taken by 
Mr. Lawrence M. Huey on the 6th of October, 1914, at San Diego, was 
not an “accidental” nor a wanderer, but a duly accredited representative 
of a small migratory movement which has been going on through our 
borders for several years. That the Red-eye, familiarly known through¬ 
out the East, is also steadily increasing in numbers in the Pacific North¬ 
west, we know full well. Our veteran ornithologist, the late Lyman 
Belding, of Stockton, told me that the first appearance of this species 
west of the Rocky Mountains was noted in Washington by his friend, 
Dr. J. W. Williams, of Walla Walla, and that he took specimens on June 
4 and 24, 1885. The first published record for the Coast is that of 
Chapman (1890)', who took birds at Ducks, and Ashcroft, British 
Columbia. These birds have now become common throughout northern 
and eastern Washington, and were found breeding near Seattle as far 
back as 1908. It is altogether probable, therefore, that the species 
has become a regular if still rare migrant through California; and it is 
not impossible that its breeding range may gradually extend southward 
along the Hanks of the Sierra-Cascade Range, as it has along the Rockies. 
Although undoubtedly a recent immigrant, the Red-eye may have 
been confused at first with the better-known Cassin Vireo; and we shall 
never know the precise manner of its entrance into the West. In habit 
the two species are not unlike, and their ordinary notes do not advertise 
differences, even to the mildly observant. Those of the Red-eye are, 
however, higher in pitch, less mellow and soft in quality, and are rendered 
with more sprightliness of manner. Its soliloquizing notes are often 
uttered—always in single phrases of from two to four syllables each— 
while the bird is busily hunting, and serve to mark an overflow of good 
spirits rather than a studied attempt at song. His best efforts are given 
to the entertaining of his gentle spouse when she is brooding upon the 
1 Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., N. Y. t Vol. III., p. 149- 
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