The Bird Book Part 89

[Ill.u.s.tration 383: C. A. Reed.

RED-EYED VIREO ON NEST.]

Page 382

627a. WESTERN WARBLING VIREO. _Vireosylva gilva swainsoni._

Range.--Western United States, breeding from Mexico to British Columbia.

This species is like the last but said to be a trifle smaller and paler color. Its nesting habits and eggs are precisely like those of the eastern form.

628. YELLOW-THROATED VIREO. _Lanivireo flavifrons._

Range.--United States east of the Plains, breeding from the Gulf to Manitoba and New Brunswick.

This handsome bird is wholly unlike any others of the Vireos, having a bright yellow throat and breast; the upper parts are greenish and the wings and tail gray, the latter with two white bars. They are fairly common breeding birds in northern United States, placing their handsome basket-like structures in forks of branches and at any elevation from the ground; the nests are like those of the preceding Vireos but are frequently adorned on the outside with lichens, thereby adding materially to their natural beauty. The four or five eggs are pinkish or creamy white, speckled about the large end with reddish brown. Size .80 .60.

629. BLUE-HEADED VIREO. _Lanivireo solitarius solitarius._

Range.--Eastern United States, breeding from southern New England and the northern states north to Hudson Bay; winters in the Gulf States and southward.

A beautiful Vireo with a slaty blue crown and nape, greenish back, white wing bars and underparts, the flanks being washed with greenish yellow; a conspicuous mark is the white eye ring and loral spot. They build firm, pensile, basket-like nests of strips of birch and grapevine bark, lined with fine gra.s.ses and hair, suspended from forks, usually at low elevation and often in pine or fir trees (of some twenty nests that I have found in New England all have been in low branches of conifers).

Their three or four white eggs are specked with reddish brown. Size .80 .60.

629a. Ca.s.sIN'S VIREO. _Lanivireo solitarius ca.s.sini._

Range.--United States west of the Rockies; north to British Columbia.

Similar to the last but with the back grayish.

629b. PLUMBEOUS VIREO. _Lanivireo solitarius plumbeus._

Range.--Rocky Mountain region, breeding from Mexico to Dakota and Wyoming.

Like the Blue-headed Vireo but with the yellowish wholly replaced by leaden gray.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Yellow-throated Vireo.]

[Ill.u.s.tration 384: Creamy white.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: White.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Blue-headed Vireo.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: left hand margin.]

Page 383

629c. MOUNTAIN VIREO. _Lanivireo solitarius alticola._

Range.--Mountains of Carolina and Georgia; winters in Florida.

Said to be larger and darker than _solitarius_ proper. From all accounts, the habits, nests or eggs of this species differ in no wise from many of those of the northern Solitary Vireo, whose nests show great variations in size and material.

629d. SAN LUCAS VIREO. _Lanivireo solitarius lucasa.n.u.s._

Range.--Southern Lower California.

Similar to ca.s.sini but with the flanks more yellow. Their nesting habits or eggs will not differ from the others.

630. BLACK-CAPPED VIREO. _Vireo atricapillus._

Range.--Central Texas north to Kansas; winters in Mexico.

This peculiar Vireo has a black crown and sides of head, broken by a white eye ring and loral stripe; upper parts greenish, below white. They appear to be fairly common in certain localities of their restricted range, and nest at low elevations in mesquites or oaks, placing the nests in forks the same as other Vireos; they are of the ordinary Vireo architecture, lined with gra.s.ses. The three or four eggs are pure white, unmarked. Size .70 .50. Data.--Comal Co., Texas, May 21, 1888, 4 eggs.

Nest located in a scrub Spanish oak, 5 feet from the ground.

631. WHITE-EYED VIREO. _Vireo griseus griseus._

Range.--Eastern United States, breeding from the Gulf to northern United States.

This Vireo has white eyes, as implied by its name, is yellowish green on the sides and with two prominent bars. They have no song, like the other Vireos, but a strange medley of notes resembling those of the Chat or Shrike. They nest near the ground in tangled thickets, making large nests for the size of the birds and not always suspended; they are made of weeds, leaves, gra.s.s, bark or any trash. Their three or four eggs are laid late in May or early in June; they are white, sparingly speckled with brown; size .75 .55.

631a. KEY WEST VIREO. _Vireo griseus maynardi._

Range.--Southern Florida.

This grayer and paler variety nests in the same manner and the eggs are not distinct from those of the last form.

[Ill.u.s.tration 385: Black-capped Vireo.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: White.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: White.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: White-eyed Vireo.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: right hand margin.]

Page 384

631b. BERMUDA VIREO. _Vireo griseus bermudia.n.u.s._

Range.--Bermudas.

This variety is said to be slightly smaller and to have no yellow on the sides. Its eggs are probably the same as those of the others.

631c. SMALL WHITE-EYED VIREO. _Vireo griseus micrus._

Range.--Eastern Mexico north to southern Texas.