80 
VIREO NO VEBORACENSIS. 
high in the tree tops, where their leisurely movements correspond with their slowly given song. 
Although the Eed-eyed Vireos are generally found at such an elevation, yet they often place 
their nests quite near the ground. They usually select a swaying oak or maple and build their 
pensile nests in the forks of slender boughs. During this time, and in fact throughout the entire 
breeding season, both birds keep together, exhibiting considerable solicitude for each other’s 
safety. If one is shot and falls to the ground the survivor alights near it and evinces intense 
sorrow by every note and action. These Vireos continue to sing until the middle of September, 
but do not give the full song after July. By the first of October, they depart for the south. I 
have never met with this species in Florida, but Mr. Boardman has seen it upon one or two 
occasions. I have never up to the present time met with the singular West Indian form, but 
judge from all accounts that it has similar habits to its northern representative. 
VIREO NOVEBORACENSIS. 
White-eyed Vireo. 
Vireo Noveboracensis Bon., Obs., Wils.; 1825. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Perm, quite robust. Size, rather small. Tongue, thin, horny, but not very acuminate and slightly cleft at tip; 
but in the single specimen before me, taken from an adult bird, there is not the slightest appearance of any cilia; 
they would, however, quite likely be present in younger specimens. 
Color. Adult. Uniform yellowish-green; brightest on the forehead. Wings and tail brownish, edged with 
same color as that of the back. Greater and lesser wing coverts, tipped with white, forming bars. The outer webs 
of the tertiaries are edged with while and the wings are lined with it. Stripe at base of bill, ring around the eye, 
sides, flanks, under tail coverts, under wing coverts and axillaries greenish-yellow. Remaining under portions, 
white. Irides, white. 
Young and nestlings, similar to the adult but paler, and with a suffusion of slaty above. The white markings on 
the wings are also more extended. In these stages the irides are yellowish. Sexes, similar. In all stages the bill 
is dark brown on the upper mandible, bluish on the lower, and the feet are blue. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
Readily known by the uniform greenish-yellow above, accompanied by the bars on the wings and the white 
irides. Specimens from Florida which breed there are, as remarked under head of V. olivaceus, rather more dusky 
and have larger bills. Distributed during the breeding season from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic, north 
to Maine. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of four specimens. Length, 5-25; stretch, 8 25; wing, 2-45: tail, 2 05; bill, -45; tarsus, 
•75. Longest specimen, 5-50; greatest extent of wing, 8-45; longest wing, 2-55; tail, 2-10; bill, -50; tarsus, -80. 
Shortest specimen, 5-00; smallest extent of wings, 7-50; shortest wing, 2-40; tail, 2-00; bill, ’40; tarsus,. -70. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, pensile, placed on low bushes. The following description is taken from a nest found in Florida, May 8, 
1872. Composed of fragments of palmetto fronds, leaves and Spanish moss, fastened together with spider’s webs 
and lined with fine grasses. External diameter, 3 inches, internal, 1-75; external depth, 2-50 inches, internal, 1-75. 
Eggs, four in number, oval in form, pure white in color, spotted very sparsely with minute dots, more numerous 
on the larger ends. Dimensions, from -75 x -55 to '70 x '50. 
HABITS. 
We landed on Key West one sultry day, about noon, and after resting two or three hours, I 
wandered out to the borders of the town. I had scarcely entered the tangled thicket which skirts 
the eastern side of the cultivated district, when I heard the peculiar notes of the White-eyed 
Vireo. They were quite abundant there, as indeed they are in every swampy undergrowth 
throughout Florida, from the Keys northward, and strangely enough they sing during the entire 
winter in all these localities. Many of them appear to be constant residents here and breed about 
