THE SOLITARY VIREO. 145 



The flight of this bird is performed by a continued tremor of the wings, 

 as if it were at all times angry. It seldom rises high above its favourite 

 cane-brakes, but is seen hopping up and down about the stems of low bushes 

 and the stalks of the canes, silently searching for food, more in the manner 

 of the Worm-eating Warbler than in that of any other bird known to me. 

 Their confidence at the approach of man is very remarkable. They look on 

 without moving until you are within a few feet, and retire only in propor- 

 tion as you advance towards them. In this respect it resembles the White- 

 eyed Vireo. 



When wounded by a shot, it remains quite still on the ground, opens its 

 bill when you approach it, and bites with all its might when laid hold of, 

 although its strength is not sufficient to enable it to inflict a wound. I have 

 never heard it utter a note beyond that of a querulous low murmuring sound, 

 when chasing another bird from the vicinity of its nest. The young all 

 leave the nest, if once touched, and hide among the grass and weeds, where 

 the parents continue to feed them. I once attempted to feed some young 

 birds of this species, but they rejected the food, which consisted of flies, 

 worms, and hard-boiled eggs, and died in three days without ever uttering a 

 note. In 1829, I shot one of these birds, a fine male, in the Great Pine 

 Swamp in Pennsylvania. 



This species is an inhabitant of the Columbia river district, where several 

 specimens were procured by Mr. Townsend. I found it abundant in Maine, 

 and it reaches Pictou in Nova Scotia, beyond which I saw none on my way 

 to Labrador. We found it in the Texas, arriving from farther south late in 

 April. My friend Dr. Bachman informs me that it is "every year becom- 

 ing more abundant in South Carolina, where it remains from about the 

 middle of February to that of March, keeping to the woods. It has a sweet 

 and loud song of half a "dozen notes, heard at a considerable distance." Mr. 

 Nuttall has favoured me with the following notice respecting it: — 



"About the beginning of May, in the oaks already almost wholly in leaf, 

 on the banks of the Columbia, we heard around us the plaintive deliberate 

 warble of this species, first mentioned by Wilson. Its song seems to be 

 intermediate between that of the Red-eyed and Yellow-breasted species, 

 having the preai, preai, &c. of the latter, and the fine variety of the former 

 in its tones. It darted about in the tops of the trees, incessantly engaged in 

 quest of food, and now and then disputing with some rival. The nest of 

 this bird is made much in the same manner as that of Vireo olivaceus. One 

 which I examined was suspended from the forked twig of the wild crab-tree, 

 at about ten feet from the ground. The chief materials were dead and 

 whitened grass-leaves, with some cobwebs agglutinated together as usual, 

 externally scattered with a few shreds of moss {Hypnum) to resemble the 



Vol. IV. 20 



