Natural History of the Bell Vireo, Vireo bellii Audubon Part 5

Renesting after desertion or successful fledging occurs within two to thirty-six hours. Young were fledged from 1-a (1959) on June 19, 1959, and nest 1-b (1959) was discovered when late in the second phase of construction on June 22. If the nest was started on June 20, then renesting took place within 15 hours after fledging.

_The Nest_

Several authors have described various aspects of the nest of the Bell Vireo, notably Goss (1891:535); Simmons (_in_ Bent, 1950:256), Nice (1929:13) and Nolan (1960:230-231). I can add but little to these descriptions.

The nest itself is a compact structure composed of strips of bark and strands of gra.s.ses that are interwoven and tightly bound with animal silk. The floor of the cup is first lined with a layer of small leaves and then the entire interior is lined with fine stems or strips of bark. Feathers are occasionally used to pad the bottom prior to lining, as are pieces of wool and milkweed down. Nest 2-e (1960) had been packed with small pieces of soil bearing moss prior to lining.

TABLE 6. ABORTIVE NESTING ATTEMPTS IN MAY AND JUNE OF 1960.

================================================== Nest | Length | Cause of abandonment | of time | | worked on | -----+-----------+-------------------------------- 1-a | 1 day | Heavy rain 1-h | 2 days | Female failed to build 2-a | 1/2 day | Female failed to build 2-c | 1 day | Protracted territorial dispute 4-a | 1 day | Female failed to build 5-a | 1 day | Female failed to build 6-c | 1 day | Heavy rain 7-a | 2 days | Female failed to build -----+-----------+--------------------------------

Early nests tend to be bulkier, having thicker walls and bottoms than later efforts. However, nests in May were found to have 16 per cent thicker bottoms and 41 per cent thicker walls than nests in June (Table 7). Standard nest measurements do not show this to be so, for the exterior and interior diameters at the rim are governed by the angle between the two branches of the fork.

TABLE 7. DIMENSIONS OF NESTS IN MAY (1960) AND JUNE (1960).

======================================================== Measurements | May (N 10) | June (N 8) ------------------------+---------------+--------------- External depth | 61.6 mm. | 59.3 mm.

Depth of cup | 45.5 mm. | 46.3 mm.

Outside diameter | 57.3/55.5 mm. | 54.3/53.5 mm.

Inside diameter | 43.4/42.2 mm. | 45.5/43.9 mm.

Thickness of forward | | wall 1 inch below rim | 13.8 mm. | 7.6 mm.

Thickness of bottom | 11.3 mm. | 4.6 mm.

EGGLAYING AND INCUBATION

_Egglaying_

Egglaying begins the first or second day after completion of the nest.

The female sits in the nest occasionally for periods of five to twenty-five minutes on the day the nest is completed. This is interrupted by periods of nest-adornment and foraging; such activities sometimes keep the female off the nest for several hours. Prior to the laying of the first egg, only the female is seen on the nest, although the male is often seen sitting quietly within the nest tree a few feet from the female. The infrequency of the "congested" song and the alarm (_eh-eH-EH_) after the inception of "broodiness" indicates the waning of courts.h.i.+p behavior. As later in incubation only the "normal" song and the scold are heard.

Eggs are laid early in the morning prior to 5:30 a. m. according to Nolan (1960:232). The nest is usually left unoccupied for considerable periods after the first egg is laid, but, on the first day of laying, both s.e.xes have been observed sitting for brief periods averaging ten minutes in length. Eggs are laid at one-day intervals until completion of the clutch. I found incubation to begin with the second egg.

_Clutch-size_

The average clutch-size of the Bell Vireo in Kansas, based on thirty-three records, is 3.39 eggs (Table 8). Seasonally, the largest average clutches are produced in the middle of the breeding season, that is, in June. Lack (1947:308-309) indicates that in European pa.s.serines the highest seasonal average clutch-sizes likewise occur in June. The largest average clutch-size in the Bell Vireo is presumably related to some aspect of the availability of food.

TABLE 8. AVERAGE NUMBERS OF EGGS PER NEST (NUMBER OF RECORDS IN PARENTHESES)[F].

======================================================== | | | | Mean Year | May | June | July | annual | | | | clutch-size ----------+---------+----------+---------+-------------- 1959 | 3.0 (7) | 3.2 (12) | 3.0 (1) | 3.06 1960 | 3.3 (6) | 3.83 (5) | 4.0 (2) | 3.72 ----------+---------+----------+---------+-------------- 1959-1960 | 3.17 | 3.52 | 3.5 | 3.39 ----------+---------+----------+---------+--------------

[F] These data have been supplemented from the literature pertinent to Kansas.

Caution is necessary in determining mean clutch-size in the Bell Vireo. Eggs occasionally disappear from the nest prior to or during incubation, without subsequent addition of cowbird eggs. Unfamiliarity with the history of such a nest on the part of the observer would lead to an inaccurate determination of clutch-size.

Complete clutches are not replaced with the same regularity as are nests. I have recorded intervals of six to thirty days between successive clutches. Successful replacement of clutches is determined by a number of factors: nest-site, completion of a nest, weather, predation, and parasitism by the cowbird. The difference between the number of renesting attempts and the successful replacement of clutches seems to indicate that different physiological processes are responsible for these two phenomena and that there is lack of synchrony between them. The development of the ovarian follicle requires a specific number of days that is not always coincident with the building of replacement nests. If, in the Bell Vireo, replacing a nest were solely a responsibility of the female, instead of involving the male to a considerable extent, it would seem likely that replacement of nests and the replacement of clutches would be more closely coordinated.

_Incubation_

Nice (1954:173) considers the incubation period to be the elapsed time between the laying of the last egg in a clutch and the hatching of that egg, when all eggs hatch. My data indicate that, normally, intensive incubation begins when the second egg is laid and lasts fourteen days in the Bell Vireo. Nice (1929:99) also considered the incubation period in this species to be fourteen days but believed it to commence when the third egg was laid. Pitelka and Koestner (1942:99) noted that the first and second eggs hatched fourteen days after laying of the second egg. However, they thought incubation began with the first egg. This would mean a fifteen-day period for this egg.

All the eggs that Nolan (1960:234) marked hatched in approximately fourteen days. Eight eggs artificially incubated by Graber (1955:103) required an average of 15.01 days to hatch. As Van Tyne and Berger (1959:293) indicate, periods of sitting on the nest, even all night, do not necessarily mean that incubation has begun, for it has been demonstrated in several species that birds may sit on an egg without actually applying heat. My own observations demonstrate that the first egg may be left unattended for several hours at a time on the day that it is laid.

_The Roles of the s.e.xes in Incubation_

Both the male and female sit on the eggs in the daytime. My study of histological sections of ventral epidermis indicates that the male does not possess a brood patch; the increased vascularization typical of the brood patch in females is not evident in males. But, the male loses most of the down feathers of the ventral apterium. Also, according to Bailey (1952:128), the male Warbling Vireo that sits on the eggs lacks a brood patch.

Bailey (1952:128) suggests that male pa.s.serines lacking brood patches that habitually sit on eggs do not heat the eggs. Thus it cannot be considered true incubation since no increase of temperature in the eggs is effected by such means. He further notes that it is at night when eggs are likely to experience a drop in temperature that embryonic development will be impaired. I have no data directly pertaining to which s.e.x sits at night, but it is presumably the female, because she is always seen on the nest early in the morning and late in the evening.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 4. Comparison of periods of incubation by both s.e.xes in cold (54 F.) rainy weather (A) and in warm (82 F.) sunny weather (B).]

If a highly-vascularized brood patch is essential for true incubation, then it is surprising that males take regular turns on the nest in cold, rainy weather. On May 20, 1960, male 3 (1960) sat on the eggs longer than did the female (fig. 4). The temperature during this hour and a half of incubation was 54 F. One solution to this problem is supplied by Skutch (1957:74). He indicates that, "the type of the incubation is determined largely by innate factors, so that it persists through fairly wide fluctuations in weather, although it may break down in extreme conditions." Obviously then, in the example described above, the weather conditions do not qualify as "extreme."

Sitting by the male is certainly functional to some extent for it relieves the female to forage; furthermore, the eggs are sheltered from inclement weather and protected from predators. Nolan (1960:232) suggests similar reasons for incubating by the male and adds the "conservation of heat supplied to the eggs by the female."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 5. Daily partic.i.p.ation in incubation as indicated by the s.e.x of the adult on the nest upon approach of the observer.]

My data, based on incubation beginning with the second egg, indicate that the female incubates more often daily than the male (fig. 5). The male sits on the eggs only occasionally in the morning, but almost as often as the female in the afternoon. Nolan (1960:233) found that 95.5 per cent of the male's time on the nest and only 40 per cent of the female's time were attributable to the early hours of the day.

Although I lack data on the critical hours of 5:00 a.m. to 6:59 a.m., I have enough observations (20) from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. to indicate that the males sit on the eggs infrequently (3 of 20 instances) in those hours. The discrepancy in the two sets of data, which may be merely an artifact of sampling techniques, does suggest two possible alternatives: (1) the male sits on the eggs in the morning and gives the female, who sits on the eggs throughout the night, an extended rest and an opportunity to forage; (2) the female continues to sit throughout the morning, especially during the early hours of daylight, a time of day when the temperature may still be low enough to impair development of the embryo.

_Relief of Partners in Incubation_

Relief of partners involves some ceremony. When the female is incubating, the male sings several times as he approaches the nest tree; the female responds with several _chees_, but otherwise remains immobile. The male sings several more times upon alighting in the nest tree whereupon the female _chees_ again and flies directly from the nest. A few seconds later the male appears at the edge of the nest and, after inspecting the eggs, hops in and settles upon them. When the male is sitting he is notably anxious prior to an exchange with the female, often arising and craning his neck as he surveys the surrounding vegetation, seemingly searching for his mate. The singing of the male and the calling of the female serve as signals, coordinating the exchange.

NESTLING PERIOD

_Hatching Sequence_

As indicated earlier, hatching normally occurs fourteen days after the second egg is laid. Hatching of the young was staggered at three nests under observation. In nest 2-b (1959) the first young hatched on June 8, 1959, the second on June 10. In 3-b (1959) one young hatched each day from the 12th through the 14th of June. In 5-a (1959) two young hatched on June 15, the third on June 16, and the fourth on June 17.

Size of the young differed notably for about three days as a result of staggered hatching, but after that day the younger birds tended to catch up in size with their older brood-mates. The fourth young in nest 5-a (1959) grew steadily weaker and was missing from the nest on June 23, 1959. Staggered hatching is usually thought to be related to the availability of food that will insure survival of at least some of the nestlings when a shortage of food exists. It is doubtful that staggered hatching has adaptive significance in the Bell Vireo, since there seems to be no shortage of food for the young. In small pa.s.serines such as the Bell Vireo the princ.i.p.al problem is to insure fledging as quickly as possible because of the danger from predators.

_Development of the Nestlings_

Young are pinkish at hatching and devoid of visible natal down. Du Bois (_in_ Wetherbee, 1957:380), inspected day-old nestlings by means of a magnifying gla.s.s and was unable to detect any down. Nolan (1960:236) also indicates that the young are naked at birth and that the "body color is between flesh and rufous except where folds of the straw yellow skin obscure the underlying colors." The Hutton Vireo (_Vireo huttoni_) is essentially naked at birth, save for spa.r.s.e hairlike down on the head and back (Wetherbee, 1953:380). The Red-eyed Vireo, according to Lawrence (1953:67) is naked at birth save for a spa.r.s.e covering of greyish natal down, on the head, shoulders, and back.

In the Bell Vireo the pterylae darken slightly on the second day and the color becomes more intense daily until the quills of the dorsal tracts, the wings, and the tail break from their sheaths on the sixth day. In Red-eyed Vireos the pterylae darken by the end of the first day and the quills break through the skin on the fifth day, erupting from the sheaths by the seventh day (Lawrence, 1953:67).