62 
THE CONDOR 
I VOL. V 
the trees. Later after most of the other birds are quiet for the night, the vesper- 
hymn of the russet-backed thrush, from far up the hillside, thrills us to the soul 
and forms a fitting close for the day. 
The vireos are cheerful, pleasing little songsters. Two varieties are quite 
common about Portland, the Cassin, and western warbling. However, one may 
find three or four nests of the former to every one of the latter. One peculiar 
difference we have noticed in the nesting of those two birds is that the home of 
warbling vireo is generally nearer the ground and, of course, is a trifle smaller 
than that of the Cassin. Three nests found last year were all between four and 
six feet up, while the Cassin vireo seldom builds less than twelve feet and often 
as high as twenty feet from the ground. 
While out photographing during the second week of May last year we saw a 
WESTERN WARBLING VIREO FEEDING YOUNG. 
Cassin vireo tugging at the loose shreds of the bark of a maple tree. We had a 
pretty good idea for just what a vireo needed bark at that season of the year, and, 
by judicious watching, we were led down the canyon to where a little basket-like 
structure was swung gracefully near the top of an aid r tree. Along the bank of 
some little stream in an alder, maple or dog-wood tree is the favorite haunt of this 
greenlet. 
The nest in its natural position was too far from the ground to be photo- 
graphed, so after waiting till the youngsters were about half grown we lowered 
the limb, to which the nest was attached, to within five feet of the ground, with 
apparently no inconvenience or trouble to the parents. A few minutes after the 
house-moving the parents were busily feeding the young in their new location. 
