Mr. Irons says that the well known voice of this little bird is a familiar sound in the woodlands of Pottawattamie Co.
Mr. Brown finds it a quite common summer resident in Scott Co., nesting in late May and early June, usually at the low elevation of from two and one-half to ten feet. “A quiet, retiring species and much more common in the small brush patches in prairie districts than in the vicinity of water courses or heavy woods.”
Mr. Giddings’ notes from his recent personal experience with the species are in full as follows: “A common summer resident in this (Jackson) Co. Not much known except to the ornithologist and collector. The home of this species is in the thickets of brush and bramble, where it builds its nest unknown to those who pass close by. The nest is suspended from the fork of some small bush within a few feet of the ground, composed of dead leaves, grass and strips of grape-vine bark. Generally somewhat ragged on the outside. Four eggs seem to be the usual number and I never found any other in complete sets. Nests mostly well concealed and hard to find. I have found the best way is to get down and creep on the ground, and by looking up, the nest can often be found quite easily.
“This species is, to me, the most interesting of the Vireos, and I hardly ever tire of listening to its lively song, or watch it flit from bush to bush. Near my place is a thicket of hazel, black-berry, sumach, and a few small oak trees interspersed; just the place for Bell’s Vireo, and I can hear it singing at most any time during the summer from my doorstep.
“June 9, 1895, I started out to find some nests and soon succeeded in finding two. The first was hung from a small hazel bush, four feet above the ground and contained two eggs. Nest measured 3 in. deep; 3 in. in diameter outside; cavity 1¾x1¼. June 11, 4 eggs; they averaged .68x.50, pure white, quite well spotted with red. The second nest was in a place where the bushes were quite low; was hung from fork of hazel bush three feet from ground. The nest was composed of leaves, grass, bark of grape-vine and plant down, lined with fine grass and hair. Measured four inches deep; 2¾ in. in diameter on the outside; 1½ in. deep by 1¾ in. inside. Contained four eggs above the average size and pure white with a very few small red spots. Eggs measured .74x.52 average, with scarcely any difference in them.
“I have not found this bird imposed upon by the Cowbird.”
Our readers will realize that to cultivate the acquaintance of the little Greenlets is to gain health, pleasure and profit—health from walks in the leafy woodlands and exercise in the fragrant air; pleasure from the music of their voices and study of their ways; and profit from health, pleasure and the priceless teachings of Nature.
The ...
Iowa Ornithologist.
A Quarterly Magazine Devoted to the Study of Ornithology and Oology.