Nest and Eggs of the Philadelphia Vireo. The nest and eggs of the 
Philadelphia Vireo ( Vireo fkiladelphicus) have hitherto been unknown, 
so far as I can find. But on the 9th of June, 1S84, while camped near 
Duck Mountain, I found a nest of this species. It was hung from a forked 
twig about eight feet from the ground, in a willow which was the reverse 
of dense, as it grew in the shade of a poplar grove. The nest was 
pensile, as usual with the genus, formed of fine grass and birch bark. The 
eggs were four in number, and presented no obvious difference from those 
of the Red-eyed Vireo, but unfortunately they were destroyed by an acci- 
dent before they were measured. 
Before shooting her I watched the bird for a week. She exhibited a 
combination of shyness and fearlessness; but this is rather chai actci istic 
of the Vireos. She would continue on the nest while I watched her from 
just below, and when scared off would 'quietly hop on to a twig and then 
disappear in the foliage without uttering any complaint. Lying on the 
ground just below the nest I found another nest of precisely similar con- 
struction. This I hung on a low twig, intending to take it to camp on my 
return ; but coming back it was again found on the ground ; and though I 
hung it several times in the willow, taking care to fasten is as securely 
as the occupied nest, it was always pulled down. There is no doubt that 
the Vireo was the agent, but the motive for the act I can scarcely under- 
stand. 
The bird on being shot answered perfectly to Coues's description, except 
that on the breast it was of a much brighter yellow than I was led to 
expect. — Ernest E. T. Seton, Toronto , Canada. 
Auk, a July, 1B86. p. 30 6 
A Philadelphia Vireo and a Cobweb. — On September 13, 1886, while 
collecting in a thicket near Bardstown, Kentucky, my companion, a small 
boy, called my attention to the peculiar actions of a bird eight or ten 
paces in advance of us. It proved to be a Philadelphia Vireo ( Vireo 
philadelphica ) suspended bv the tip of its right wing from a twig at a 
distance of three or four feet from the ground, violently struggling to free 
itself. Flying above, within a few feet of it, was another individual of the 
same species, an apparently interested and distressed witness of the 
strange performance. Both birds were shot, and upon examination I 
discovered that the first one had become entangled in a sticky, cobwebby 
substance that was found to be quite common during that season in the 
locality mentioned. The end of the w r ing was completely ‘gummed up’ 
with the viscous filaments, and the struggles of the captive had twisted 
the web into a slender and elastic but strong cord, the other end of which 
was attached to the twig. The webs in question I found only in thickets, 
and had been much annoyed by often running against them and getting 
the glutinous stuff on my face and hands. It is doubtless produced by 
some spider, but I have never recognized the species. However, I think 
it improbable that the wily Arachnid deliberately attempts the capture of 
such large game, and in this particular instance it was doubtless as much 
surprised as the cockney sportsman in ‘Punch,’ who fired at a hare and 
killed a calf. — Charles Wickliffe Beckham, Washington , D. C. 
Auk, V. Jan. 1888. p. // £ . 
