Nesting of the Blue-headed Vireo. 
BY JT. W. FLINT, NEW HAVEN, CONN. 
Ill the summer of 1884, while visiting a friend 
at East Douglass, Mass., (on the line of the 
New England Railroad, and a few miles from 
the Connecticut line) I had the good fortune to 
find the nest and eggs of this bird ( Vireo soli - 
tarius). I had been in search of young winter- 
green in a rather wet piece of woodland, and 
while engaged in picking a bunch of the same |j 
was electrified by the note of a. bird new to me 1 
-proceeding from a point not ten feet distant. 1 
recognized the bird in a moment and laying 
aside my wiutcrgreeu commenced a diligent 
search for the nest, knowing that at this season 
of the year (June 23rd) it must be nesting, but 
though the male continued in uninterrupted 
song in the vicinity for an hour or more, I was 
unable to find the nest. This was somewhat 
disheartening as 1 was obliged to leave town on 
the following day and that evening I spent a 
considerable portion of the time in thinking 
about my unfound prize. 
The next morning, while on my way to the 
depot I was obliged to pass near the scene of 
the previous day’s search, and as I had nearly 
an hour before train time I sat down my valise 
and determined to try again. Entering a small 
clump of pines a short distance from where I 
saw the bird the day before, 1 had hardly pro- 
ceeded twenty feet before I was again saluted 
witli tlie ringing notes of my looked for speci- 
men and in a moment more had fastened my 
eyes on the nest in a birch sapling about ten 
feet up, upon which was sitting Mrs. V. soli- 
tarius composedly eyeing me with her bright 
little brown eyes. Taking hold of a branch 
within reach I pulled that upon which the n:st 
was suspended down until I could touch the 
bird and actually did so before she left the nest, 
in fact, 1 never met with so close a sitter before, 
or since. 
The nest is very neat and pretty, rather shal- 
low, composed mostly- of fine yellow bark strips 
mixed with pieces of leeropia cocoons, one dry 
leaf , pieces of rotten wood, etc., covered outside 
more or less evenly with caterpillar’s silk and 
lined with pine needles and a few fine strips of 
grape vine bark. 
The eggs, four in number, were of a delicate 
1 pinkish white ground color, sprinkled chiefly 
about the greater end witli tine reddish dots, 
t 1 and entirely unlike any vireo’s eggs I have ever 
O.&O. XIII. Mar. 1888 p. tfy. 
VIREO SOLITARIES ? 
Solitary Yireo. 
I have been so fortunate as to secure specimens 
of the Solitary Yireo, in both Northern New Eng- 
land and Tennessee, but until recently I did not 
consider any slight difference. Mr. Wm. Brews- 
ter first gave public notice to the new variety 
alticola which he claims as peculiar to the “moun- 
tains of western North Carolina.” Mr. Brewster 
is correct as to this variety being found in these 
mountains and without expressing any opinion I 
would say that I have secured specimens which 
were true solitarius l and also of tlie darker type, 
in these mountains, as the following will show. 
Vireo solitarius, (800 author’s coll.) Monroe 
county, Tenn., 1,700 feet. Description: Upper 
parts olive-green ; crown and side of head bluisli- 
ash; white line about eye, lore-dusky. Below, 
white ; sides tinged with olive ; spurious quill, etc. 
Enough is given in above description to show it 
is a specimen of V. solitarius without further 
quotations. 
* A specimen which may be of tlie other variety 
may be described as follows : 
Vireo solitarius ? (945 author’s coll.). Blount 
county, 3,200 feet. May 18, 1884. Description : 
$ , above dark plumbeous, entire ; beneath white; 
sides yellowish; wings dark brown, feathers 
edged with green ; two bands of dull white across 
wing; coverts same as tail; outer tail leathers 
edged with white; white ring around eye; lore 
dark. 
Tlie above condensed description shows a 
specimen which differs from V. solitarius proper. 
Another specimen from Maine approaches it 
closely. 
“ Vireo solitarius? (3480 coll, of F. H. C.). Eus- 
tis, Maine, June 4, 1884. Male, adult. Upper 
parts nearly black;’ some greenish on rump ; 
crown like body; quills edged with green; bill 
stout. 
The above brief outline taken from the collect- 
or’s full description serves to prove that tlie 
variety does extend from these mountains. 
I leave tlie question as it now stands, trusting 
tlie above cited examples will throw some new 
light on the range of the new species. 
O.&O. XI. Nov. 1888. p. 
Auk, XIII, Oct., 1890. o- 3^3, 
Solitary Vireo ( Vireo solitarius ) nesting in Connecticut. — June 8, 
1894, I found a nest of this species suspended from an alder bush, seven 
feet from the ground, in a swamp, near West Simsbury, Conn. It con- 
tained four eggs. — C. M. Case, Hartford , Conn. 
