White-eyed Vireo, ( Vireo noveboracen- 
sis.) Very common. I liave taken over a 
dozen nests in the last two years. They 
build a beautiful nest, and I have observed 
they most always choose a sweet- smelling 
tree or young oak. The complete set of 
eggs is four. 
3'bR't iwmt c • . /) C 
J Jt cxscAver*. ZIushU. JJu y^aCusstJts t< ff . 
G. os O. IX. May. 1334. p. S*. 
Nesting of the White-eyed Vireo in 
Chester County, Pa. 
BY J. P. NORRIS, JR. 
It has been my good fortune to find four 
nests of this bird ( Vireo noveboracensis ) in 
Chester County, where it is rather scarce. 
The first nest was found May 25th, 18S7, and 
had just been completed. Returning a week 
later, I found it contained four eggs of the 
Vireo and one of the Cowbird. 
This nest was suspended from a limb of a 
small bush onefoot from the ground, in a small 
clump of bushes in a swampy meadow. The 
nest is purse-shaped, as in fact all the four 
nests I found were, differing in that from those 
of the Red-eyed Vireo ( V. olivaceva) which are 
cup-shaped. It was composed of bark, pieces 
of cocoon shavings, moss, etc., lined with fine 
strips of bark. Moss seems to be Invariably 
used iu the construction of their nests, while 
I have never seen any in a nest of the Red- 
eyed Vireo. This set measure ,67x.53; .74x 
.54; .73 x .50; .77x.56. 
Nest No. 2 was found May 29th, 1888, just 
finished, and was left until June 5th, when four 
eggs were taken from it. The bird was seen 
and fully identified. It was two feet from the 
ground, suspended from the limb of a small 
tree, well hidden, it was on a sort of plateau, 
or elevated piece of level ground, covered with 
trees and hushes, and having a considerable 
slope on each side. At the bottom of one side 
was a small stream. It was within an eighth 
of a mile where the first set was taken, in 1887. 
The nest was similar to the other. The eggs 
measure .74x.55; .73 x .57 ; .73x.55; .74x.57. 
Nest No. 3 was found May 30th, 1S88, corn- 
pitted, and was left until June 5th, when it 
contained four eggs of (he Vireo and one of the 
Cowbird. It was in a low, swampy woods near 
Dilwort.htown, and was suspended from the 
limb of a small tree one and one-half feet from 
the ground, and was similar in construction to 
the former ones. The eggs measure .64x.49; 
.69 x .50; .73 x ,51 ; ,71x.50. 
Nest No. 4 was found June 18th, 1888, and 
was, I believe, the second laying of the same 
parents as set No. 2, as the nest was not more 
than twenty-five yards from the situation of 
that one, and the eggs were found thirteen 
days after the former ones. It was suspended 
from a limb of a small sassafras bush, on a steep 
wooded bank above the stream previously 
mentioned. It was not more than a foot from 
tlie ground. The eggs are quite large for this 
bird and measure .75 x.58; .7Gx.S8; .75 x56. 
The eggs of this species are usually smaller 
than those of V. olivaceus. 
~ : 0. XIII. Dec. 1888 p. 186-7 
o,&< 
White-ey'ed Vireo, ( Vireo noveboracen- 
sis ,) May 28, obtained a set of four fresh 
eggs. The nest, which was composed of 
tine strips of inner-bark, bits of leaves, 
spiders' webs, and tree-moss outside, lined 
with fine grasses, was hanging in the fork 
of an alder bush, about two and a half 
feet from the ground. 
■-A/criZi, duryvo lAost/, 
(J.&O. IX. Dec. 1884. p, /yd^ 
Ia-UUsC, /> r 
£>■ 
13. Vireo noveboracensis. White-eyed Vi- 
reo. Two nests containing two eggs each of 
tlie Cowbird are recorded. 
Q.&O. XlV.Sept. 1886 p 134 
trees -vi/saAs 
Late in May I found a Whjte-e yed V ireo's 
nest containing one egg. It*was in the left 
hand side of a double crotch on a maple bough, 
and directly below it, and touching the bottom, 
was a tall thorny shrub known locally as a 
“Devil’s Walking Stick.” The top of this be- 
ing upon the bottom of the nest had canted it 
somewhat to the right, and the little architects 
had torn away a portion of the right side of the 
edge of tlie nest and carried a “ guy” across to 
the right hand side of tlie other crotch. The 
left side of the nest was also raveled out a little 
from its supporting twig plainly for the pur- 
pose of “getting slack” for the purpose of 
swinging the frail structure away from the 
thorny stick which threatened its equilibrium. 
I looked upon it as a very clever piece of engi- 
neering, for the “Devil’s Walking Stick” is a 
very quick growing plant, and would soon have 
upset the nest. Judge of my surprise about a 
week later when 1 visited the locality and found 
the nest suspended entirely in tlie right hand 
crotch, and the “Devil's Walking Stick” going 
right up through the space in which the nest 
had first been built! There wore the shreds 
still hanging which had formed the edge of the 
original structure, and the new fastenings had 
of necessity dropped the little house somewhat, 
so that it hung full half ail inch lower than is 
usual with the habitations of this little bird, 
but the body of tlie nest — that is from the tip 
to the bottom — was not deeper than ordinary. 
It was only the new edges that suspended it in 
its new position that gave it an apparent extra 
depth. It contained three eggs. Subsequent 
observations proved that two of them were 
addled, for only one young was hatched, and 
the eggs remained in tlie nest with it for a week 
or more. 
0,&Q. XII. Nov. 1887 p. 
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