VIREOS: PLUMBEOUS VIREO 
603 
the food and are eaten in every month. Wasps and a few ants amount to 7 per 
cent. Ladybird beetles amount to less than 6 per cent. Most of the insects eaten 
are harmful. 
General Habits. —Readily distinguished from the Western War¬ 
bling Vireo by its white eye-ring, loral streak, and wing bars, the Cassin 
Vireo is found mainly near water. Its song is louder and more striking 
and not so continuous as that of the Vireo. 
Additional Literature.—Finley, W. L., Condor, V, 61-64, 1903.— Head, 
Anna, Condor, VIII, 149, 1906. 
PLUMBEOUS VIREO: Vireo solitarius plumbeus Coues 
Description. — Length: 5.7-6.1 inches, wing 3-3.3, tail 2.3-2.5, bill from nostril 
.3, tarsus .7-.8. Adults: Upperparts slate-gray , in sharp contrast to white or loral 
streak , orbital ring, and throat; rump tinged with olive-green; tail and wings slate-black, 
with olive-gray edgings, these becoming white on lateral tail feathers, the outside 
ones with outer web white; wings with two conspicuous white bands; underparts white, 
sides and flanks broadly but indistinctly striped with grayish olive and pale yellow; 
under mandible bluish gray. Young: Similar to adults but upperparts brownish 
gray, sides and flanks white. 
Comparisons. —The practical absence of green —uniformly gray —head and back 
distinguish the Plumbeous from the Cassin Vireo. (See p. 602.) 
Range. —Breeds in Upper Sonoran Zone of southern Rocky Mountain region 
from northern Nevada, northern Utah, southern Montana, and southwestern South 
Dakota south through southwestern Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to Chihuahua 
and mountains of Vera Cruz; winters south to Oaxaca and Colima. Recorded in 
California. 
State Records. —The breeding Solitary Vireo of New Mexico belongs to the 
form called plumbeus; it breeds in the western part of the State from above 8,000 
feet in the coldest part of the Zuni Mountains (Goldman), to 7,000 feet among the 
junipers in a hot canyon at Fort Wingate (Hollister), and to 6,900 feet at Nutrias 
(Henshaw). [It was common at Lake Burford, 7,700 feet, after May 26, 1918 
(Wetmore). In northern Santa Fe County it is locally common. Ten miles 
southeast of Santa Fe a nest with fresh eggs was found, May 31, 1920, at 7,500 feet 
(Jensen).1 In eastern New Mexico it breeds at 7,500 feet at Glorieta and Canoncito 
(Bailey); 7,800 feet at Willis (Birtwell); and 7,500 feet on Mesa Yegua (Bailey). 
[On Mount Taylor at 7,000 feet, June 24, 1916, four well feathered young were 
found in the nest. At Chloride, May 17, 1916, fresh eggs and half-made nests, and 
on June 2,1916, three fresh eggs were found at 6,200 feet (Ligon).] It was common, 
breeding on the southwest slope of the Capitan Mountains, July 9, 1903 (Gaut); 
was feeding young August 1, 1901, at 6,000 feet in the Guadalupe Mountains 
(Bailey); and undoubtedly nests in the San Luis Mountains, where a specimen 
was taken July 5, 1892 (Mearns). 
In the fall it was found, August 14,1904, at 8,000 feet near Arroyo Hondo (Gaut) ; 
Lake La Jara, 7,500 feet, September 18, 1904; and 10 miles south of Mora, at 7,300 
feet, September 4, 1903 (Bailey). It was found as late as September 28, 1883, at 
Willis (Henshaw); at Apache to September 30 (Anthony); and was taken on the late 
date of October 9, 1903, in the Manzano Mountains (Gaut). 
On the return in spring one was seen at Chloride, April 26, 1915 (Ligon), and 
another at Silver City, May 13, 1884 (Marsh).—W. W. Cooke. 
