A nest of this species, found in June, near Neosho Falls, Kansas, by Mr. B. F. Goss (S. I. Coll., 1,875), is pensile; suspended from two small twigs, which make the basis of three fourths of its rim. Over these is strongly bound a finely felted webbing of the flax-like fibres of plants, interwoven with slender stems. With these are connected and interwoven also the materials that make up the periphery of the nest itself. This is composed of long and slender strips of bark, fragments of dry leaves, bits of wood, and various other fragmentary substances. The nest, unlike others of this family, is lined with down, and the fine long hair of some animals, instead of with vegetable stems. The diameter as well as the height of this nest is about two and a half inches.
Another nest from West Texas, obtained by Captain Pope, is essentially different in its general characteristics. It is three inches in diameter, and but one inch and three quarters high. The opening is circular, but only one and a half inches wide. Below the rim the cavity widens until it is two and a half inches in diameter. The outer nest is made up of an interweaving of fine strips of bark and dry leaves, intermixed with and firmly bound around by strong flax-like fibres of different plants. Within, it is lined with fine flexible grasses and stems of plants.
The eggs of this species are from .73 to .76 of an inch in length, and from .52 to .56 in breadth. They are pure white, sparingly spotted with fine red dots distributed around the larger end.
Vireo pusillus, Coues.
LEAST VIREO.
Vireo pusillus, Coues, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phila. 1866.—Baird, Rev. Am. B. 360.—Elliot, Illust. Birds N. A. I, vii.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 124. ? Vireo belli, Cooper, Pr. Cal. Acad. 1861, 122 (Fort Mohave).
Vireo pusillus.
31893
Sp. Char. Somewhat similar in general appearance to Vireosylvia gilva and swainsoni, but smaller. Bill very small; tarsi lengthened. Wings about equal to the tail, which is lengthened, graduated, and with the feathers narrow and pointed. Exposed part of first primary about half that of the second, which is intermediate between seventh and eighth; the fourth and fifth longest.
Above grayish-ash, with a tinge of olive behind. Beneath, including the inside of the wings, white, with a soiled tinge on the sides of the throat and across the breast. Axillars and flanks exhibiting a faint trace of greenish-yellow. Eyelids and a short line from the nostrils to the eye whitish; no other stripe apparent. A dusky loral spot. Primary coverts edged indistinctly with whitish, producing an obscure band (a second on the middle coverts hardly appreciable). Quills and tail-feathers edged externally with pale grayish-olive, the innermost secondaries with whitish. Bill dusky above, whitish beneath. Legs plumbeous. Iris of two specimens marked as “light brown,” of another as “rufous.”