THE CONDOR 
| Vot.. VIII 
14S 
This season ( 1906) has been remarkable for large sets. Out of 10 sets observed in 
this locality 5 have been of 4 eggs, 3 of 3 and 2 of 2 eggs, all being first sets ex- 
cept 1 of 3 and 1 of 2. Two sets of 3 each were taken by Mr. B. Carpenter from 
the same nest, which is unusual, evidently the product of the same birds. If un- 
disturbed the first of the two sets would undoubtedly have been 4 eggs instead of 3, 
as in the second set taken a short time later one egg was very much more advanced 
in incubation than the others. In one set of 4 one egg is very much smaller than 
the rest and is unmarked. 
Escoi, dido , Cal. 
The Oberholser Vireo 
BY JOSEPH GRINNEEI, 
I N The Condor for September, 1905, pages 142 and 143, Dr. L- B. Bishop de- 
scribed a new race of the Hutton vireo, naming it Vireo huttoni oberholseri. \ 
must confess that I very much doubted the existence of any such race' This 
impression was based wholly upon "geographical reasoning," for I had never seen 
any Hutton vireos from San Diego County, whence came the type of Bishop’s V. 
h. oberholseri . I had closely compared my Pasadena series in various plumages 
with specimens from the vicinity of Monterey, the type locality of I ’. h. huttoni f 
without detecting any decided phylogenetic differences; and I reasoned that the very 
short distance, 130 miles, and general faunal similarity precluded the existence of 
another distinct subspecies in San Diego County. That good evidence is now at 
hand proving to my own satisfaction the existence of a race in southern California, 
differing appreciably from that found around Pasadena and northward, only goes 
to show that one must not depend too much on "geographical reasoning"; it may 
be at fault under the best of circumstances. 
I have before me a male vireo taken at Escondido, San Diego County, Califor- 
nia, March 27, 1906, which shows the precise characters pointed out by Dr. Bishop 
in his description of V. h. oberholseri. Among my series of 47 skins of V. h. hut- 
tom taken from Los Angeles County to Siskiyou County there is not one from 
which this specimen is not easily distinguishable. It is more 1 leaden-lined instead 
of greenish dorsal ly, and ashier ventrally. Pasadena birds show a very slight ten- 
dency in this direction as compared with Monterey specimens so that intergrada- 
tion is probable. 
I am indebted to Mr. James Dixon for the privilege of examining this 
bird and also a nest and set of three fresh eggs taken with it. A descrip- 
tion of these latter is apropos. The nest was located fifteen feet from the ground 
in the upper foliage of a small live oak growing on a hillside about 150 yards from 
the big reservoir near Escondido. The nest is very bulky, being composed exter- 
nally of a prodigious quantity of a pale-green fibrous lichen, which is the material 
invariably chosen for outside lining by the Hutton vireo, according to my experi- 
ence. This material is in greater quantity and looser texture than is ordinarily the 
case with the Hutton vireo. As usual the nest is suspended by opposite rims from 
a V-shaped forking of twigs and surrounded by leaves and staminate flowers of the 
oak. The lining is of fine round grasses and bits of plant down. The nest is If 8 
inches in internal diameter, by 1)4 inches in inside depth; externally 3/4 by 3 
