398 
VIREOS 
Nest. — Hung in thickets, in bushes, or small trees, 2 to 6 feet from the 
ground, made of dry leaves, cocoons, and spiders’ webs, lined with fibers of 
grass and bark. Eggs : usually 3, plain white. 
Food. — (3 stomachs) caterpillars. 
At Pecos High Bridge, in the bottom of the Pecos River canyon, 
which rang with the songs of an hepatic tanager, canyon wrens, and 
cardinals, we were delighted to find the rare little spectacled black¬ 
cap actually common, adding his loud song to the rich canyon 
chorus. His song was unusually varied for a vireo, though of the 
general character of the white-eye or hellii type rather than that of 
gilvus. One song contained a run, and its last notes were liquid, 
loud, and emphatic, something like come here , right-now-quick' , or 
there now , wait-a-bit. The alarm-note was hoarse. 
The calm deliberation of the vireo blood seems wanting in the 
black-cap even though he does live in Texas. He hops about or 
flies around in the most alert, energetic way. A pair were busy 
building in a dense vine grown thicket against one of the canyon 
walls, that is to say, the male was busy singing near by while his 
mate worked on the nest, weaving spider web over the skeleton 
leaves and cocoon cases. 
Though the black caps are partial to ravines, Mr. Bailey found 
them common on scrub-oak ridges about Kerrville, hunting low in 
the scrub oaks and junipers. 
631- Vireo noveboracensis ( Gmel. ). White-eyed Vireo. 
Adults. —Upper parts bright olive green, wings with two sharply 
marked bands; lores , forehead , and orbital ring bright yellow ; throat and 
chest white, sides and flanks bright sulphur yellow. Young: olive gray, 
greener posteriorly ; wings crossed with two buffy bands ; under parts 
white, buffy on flanks ; loral streak white. Length: 4.50-5.00, wing 2.35- 
2.50, tail 1.90-2.10, bill from base .55-.5S, bill from nostril .27-.30, tarsus 
.72-78.. 
Distribution. — Breeds in Upper and Lower Sonoran zones from New 
England south to Louisiana and northern Texas, west to the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains ; winters from Florida to Guatemala and Honduras. 
Nest. — Hung in bushes or vines, in thickets or along borders of woods 
or swamps, seldom over 4 feet from the ground ; made of vegetable fibers, 
leaves, mosses, and lichens, lined with stems of weeds and grasses. Eggs: 
4 or 5, white, lightly spotted with purple and reddish brown around the 
larger end. 
Food. — Insects and their larvae. 
The white-eyed vireo ranges west as far as the Rocky Mountains, 
and in Kansas, Colonel Goss says, lives in thickets of briars and 
vines on the low prairies, and also on the edges of woods bordering 
streams and swamps. In Bermuda, where its jolly little relative 
abounds, it is known as the ‘ chick of the village,’ and its song is 
rendered as Chick-a-dee-chick'-de-villet. 
