266 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
throated, and in the fall is seen some seasons as late as the middle of 
October. I have usually found this vireo in the lower branches of trees 
or in hig-h bushes. Sometimes this bird is shy, but usually it can be 
approached without any trouble. I have seen these birds several times 
in the summer months in the mountains of Blair, Centre and Elk coun- 
ties, but never found nests. My friend. Prof. A. Kock, to whom I am 
indebted for much valuable information concerning- our feathered fauna, 
says it is a common breeder in Lycoming- county. Mr. T. L. Neff, Cum- 
berland county, Prof. H. J. Roddy, Perry county, have found it breed- 
ing-, and in the mountainous reg-ions of Lackawanna county Mr. H. W. 
Williams has observed it as a reg-ular summer resident. The beautiful 
cup-shaped nest of this bird is suspended from a forked twig- “ in under- 
g-rowth or lower branches of small trees in woods.” 
Food consists chiefly of insects, but in late summer, fall and winter 
small berries are also fed upon. 
Vireo noveboracensis (Gmel.) 
White-eyed Vireo. 
Description. 
Length 5 or a little less ; extent about 8 ; wings 2| or a little less ; tail about 2. Spu- 
rious quill well developed, about half as long as the second, and similar to it also in 
shape ; wings rather rounded ; a yellow stripe from base of maxilla joins 
around eye, in front of which is a dusky spot ; above bright olive-green ; the hind 
neck (posterior half of head also in some specimens) ashy; throat, upper part of 
breast white (grayish -white in some specimens), belly white and under tail-coverts 
white with yellow tint ; sides and axillars bright yellow ; eyes white, in young 
brownish. 
Habitat . — Eastern United States, west to the Rocky mountains, south in winter 
to Guatemala. Resident in the Bermudas. 
The AVliite-eyed Yireo is a common summer resident, very generally 
distributed, in suitable localities, throughout the state, from late in 
April until sometimes the last week in October. The other species of 
this family inhabit chiefly woodland areas, but this curious white-eyed, 
inquisitive, scolding, unsuspicious, shrill-voiced, and vehement songster, 
resides in thickets and tangled undergrowth, along the edges of woods, 
etc., usually in the vicinity of water. In different sections of Pennsyl- 
vania where green briers and blackberry bushes abound, there you will 
generally find the White-eye. This, like the two species last mentioned, 
is a familiar winter resident in Florida, where I have observed them 
feeding on palmetto berries, mulberries and different kinds of insects. 
When in Pennsylvania the ^Vliite-eye subsists mainly on an insect diet, 
like that of his near relatives, and in the summer he feeds to some ex- 
tent on blackberries, raspberries, etc., the juices of which often stain 
the feathers around the bill. The swaying nest, quite large for the size 
of its irritable owmer, is hung from a forked twig in a bush or tree, and 
is mostly about four, six or eight feet from the ground. 
