_Lanivireo solitarius solitarius. Case 6, Fig. 68_
Eye-ring and lores white, head grayish blue,
underparts white, the sides yellowish; two
wing-bars. L. 5-1/2.
_Range._ Nests from the mountains of northern New
Jersey and of Pennsylvania to Canada; winters from
the Gulf States southward.
Washington, common T.V., Apl. 6-May 18; Sept.
6-Nov. 3. Ossining, tolerably common T.V., Apl.
23-May 14; Sept. 8-Oct. 20. Cambridge, common
T.V., rare S.R., Apl. 20-May 8; Sept. 15-Oct. 5.
N. Ohio, common T.V., Apl. 17-May 20; Sept. 1-30.
Glen Ellyn, not common T.V., May 9-19; Aug.
11-Oct. 9. SE. Minn., common T.V., May 3-Sept. 28.
We know this Vireo chiefly as a migrant, one of the earliest of the
group of small arboreal wood-haunting birds (Vireos and Warblers) to
reach us in the spring. Its song, as well as its movements, are
deliberate. Vireo-like it peers beneath the leaves or inspects the
blossoms, removing a caterpillar here or an insect's egg there, the
while singing leisurely a rich-toned rendering of the Red-eye's theme.
It nests late in May, hanging its cup-shaped basket to a crotch usually
five to ten feet above the ground. The eggs are white with a few black
or brown spots.
The Mountain Solitary Vireo (_L. s. alticola_) has a slightly larger
bill and bluer back. It nests in the mountains from Maryland to Georgia
and winters southward to Florida.