BLUE-HEADED VIREO. 
177 
It possesses all the unsuspicious habits of the genus, allow- 
ing a near approach without alarm. It seldom rises beyond 
the tops of the canes or low bushes amidst which it is com- 
monly seen hopping in quest of its subsistence, which consists 
of insects and berries. Its flight is generally tremulous and 
agitated. According to Dr. Bachman, “ it is every year be- 
coming 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.” 
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 noticed 
by Wilson. Its song seems to be intermediate between that of 
the Red-eyed and Yellow-breasted species, having the preai, 
prcai, etc., 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, now and then disputing with some 
rival. The nest of this bird is made much in the same manner 
as that of the 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, externally scattered with a few shreds of moss 
{Jlypnum), to resemble the branch on which it was hung; 
here and there were also a few of the white paper-like cap- 
sules of the spider’s nest, and it was lined with fine blades of 
grass and slender root-fibres. The situation, as usual, was 
open but shady. 
This is a fairly common summer resident of northern New 
England, and it breeds sparingly south to the Middle States, and 
north to Hudson’s Bay. It is a rare bird in the Maritime Prov- 
inces and in Quebec, though common in parts of Ontario. 
Note. The Mountain Solitary 'Vm^.o {V. solifarms alti- 
cola), lately discovered by Mr. William Brewster in western North 
Carolina, is described as “nearly uniform blackish plumbeous, with 
only a faint tinge of green on the back.” 
VOL. I. — 12 
