84 
BIRDS OF DURHAM AND VICINITY. 
Vireo solitarius. Blue-headed Vireo. 629. 
The Blue-headed Vireo appears to be only a migrant in this imme- 
diate locality, at least it is not ordinarily to be found here in the nest- 
ing season, though in August it is often very common. However, 
one need not go more than twenty or thirty miles back from the coast 
to reach its regular summer haunts. It is the first vireo to come north. 
Even before the buds have swelled appreciably, the bold song of the 
Blue-head may be heard in the woods. I have twice recorded its 
presence on the twenty-seventh of April. Its migrations are con- 
ducted so leisurely that we find them here nearly a month in spring, 
and considerably more than that in autumn. Though lovers of woods 
they are fond enough of town life, where there are plenty of trees. 
In the old elms of Exeter they are common during the autumnal 
movement. I have not recorded them later than the twenty-fifth of 
September. 
Vireo beliii. Bell's Vireo. 633. 
On the nineteenth of November, 1897, a cold, cloudy day, while 
driving along the road leading to Piscataqua bridge, my attention was 
attracted by a small dull-colored bird. It appeared to be chilled, as 
it fluttered from twig to twig of a tangled growth of poison ivy that 
overrun an old wall by the roadside. Such a bird was altogether out 
of season, and I immediately decided upon a post mortem examination 
as the only sure means of determining its identity. It proved to be a 
specimen of BelTs Vireo, a species normally found on the prairies and 
hitherto unknown in New England. Its mounted skin is now in the 
college collection. In size this vireo is much smaller than any of its 
kind ordinarily found here. Its general appearance is not unlike that 
of the Ruby-crowmed Kinglet, the main difference being that it has no 
v;hite eye ring, no scarlet crown patch, and that its bill is plainly after 
the vireo type — much stouter than a kinglet's. Its throat and breast 
are also of a somewhat lighter shade. 
Family MNIOTILTIIXE. 
Mniotiita varia. Black and White Warbler. 636. 
This very common warbler has been seen here as early as the twenty- 
seventh of April, though more often it makes its appearance during 
the first week in May. The males usually arrive first, being fol- 
lowed in a few days by the females. By the middle of May they are 
< 
