The Western Warbling Vireo 
dotted or spotted or very rarely blotched, chiefly at larger end, with dark brown or 
brownish black. Av. of 20 California-taken eggs, 18.3 x 13.2 (.72 x .52). Season: 
May-June, according to altitude; one brood. 
Range of Vireosylva gilva. —Temperate North America, south in winter to 
Guatemala. 
Range of V. g. swainsoni. —Western North America, breeding from southern 
British Columbia, southwestern Mackenzie and northeastern Alberta, south to Lower 
California, Sonora, and western Texas, to the eastern border of the Rocky Mountain 
states; south in winter to Guatemala. 
Distribution in California. —Summer resident from uppermost Transition 
zone down to wooded and watered portions of uppermost Lower Sonoran zone, practi¬ 
cally throughout the State. Found only in or near deciduous trees of riparian asso¬ 
ciation. More broadly distributed and abundant during migrations. 
Migrations. —Spring arrival: Pasadena, March 23, 1895 (Grinnell); Gaviota 
pass, April 1, 1912; Santa Barbara, March 29, 1913; March 28, 1914; March 20, 1915; 
March 13, 1916; March 18, 1920. Autumn, last seen: Los Angeles, October 4, 1901. 
Authorities.—Heermann (Vireo gilmis), Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., ser. 2, 
ii., 1853, p. 269 (Calif.); Baird (Vireo swainsonii ), Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., vol. ix., 1858, 
p. 336, in text (orig. desc.; type from Petaluma); Cones, Birds Col. Val., 1878, p. 501 
(syn., desc., habits, nests and eggs, food, etc.); Beal, U. S. Dept. Agric., Biol. Surv. 
Bull., no. 30, 1907, p. 39 (food); Rust, Condor, vol. xxii., 1920, p. 85, figs, (nesting 
habits); Grinnell, LTniv. Calif. Pub. Zook, vol. v., 1908, p. 108 (San Bernardino Mts.). 
IS THERE a moment in springtime more delicious than that in 
which the greeting of the returning Vireo falls upon the ear! Fresh 
as apples and as sweet as apple blossoms 
comes that dear, homely song from the 
willows. How the heart feeds upon 
it! We tell another bead on life’s 
jewelled rosary; and, some¬ 
how, I think that bead is 
emerald. The old-fash¬ 
ioned name “Greenlet,” 
as applied to the Vireos, 
was a misnomer, if a de¬ 
scription of plumage was 
intended; but if it was in¬ 
tended to memorialize the 
bird’s fondness for greenery, 
nothing could have been more 
apt. The Warbling Vireo’s sur¬ 
roundings must be not only 
green, but freshly green, for it 
frequents only deciduous trees 
• 1 • t Taken in Oregon Photo by Dickey 
in groves an riverside copses. western warbling vireo at nest 
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