196 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



su]i(^rciliary stripe, mostly concealed, however, liy the lilnck tips of the 

 feathers. Tlic middle coverts, like the lesser, are pure plain orange. 



A male from Cape May, N. J. (.59,458, May), has the middle coverts white, 

 and the lesser wluilly unifonii lilack. Tlie liead, however, is as in typical 

 specimens. 



In a series of twenty adult spring males from Carlisle, I'enn., seven have 

 the middle coverts more or less white. But it is noticed that all these speci- 

 mens with white middle coverts have invariably le.ss intense colors than 

 those with orange shoulders, while in the Kansas specimens the other colors 

 are of the brightest character. 



A male from Washington (12,:U7, May 6) is e.xactly similar. 



Habits. The familiar Baltimore Oriole, the Ctolden Robin of the New 

 England States, is found throughout eastern Xorth America, at various sea- 

 sons, from Texas to the British Possessions, and from the Atlantic to the 

 plains. It is, however, for the most part, not connnon beyond the ^lissis- 

 sippi Eiver. It has been traced as far to the north as the ontli parallel 

 of latitude, and probaV)!}^ breeds more or less alnindantly in cN'ery State 

 ea.st of the ilissi.ssippi lUver. It is rare in Florida, and is not given by 

 Mr. Allen as known to that State, but I have received its nest and eggs 

 from Mouticello in AVest Florida. The Smithsonian Museum embraces 

 specimens from as far west as Powder Iliver and the Yellowstone. 



Mr. J. A. Allen (Am Naturalist, June, 1872) mentions finding this species 

 at the base of the liocky Mountains, in Colorado, which he regards as its 

 extreme western limit. In Kansas he found this species, as well as the 

 Orchard Oriole, abundant, the Baltimore indulging in a dialect so different 

 from tliiit of its northern relatives as often to puzzle him to make out to 

 wiiat bird its strange notes belonged. Its colors were also unusually Ijright 

 in all the specimens he examined. 



j\Ir. Boardman gives it as very rare at Calais, but Professor "S'errill thinks 

 it common in "Western ]\Iaine. It is abundant throughout the southern 

 and central portions of Vermont and New Hampsliire, and in all New York. 

 It is a common summer resident at Hamilton, Ontario, where it arrives the 

 second week in May. It was found on the plains of the Saskatchewan by 

 Captain Blakiston. 



Mr. Dresser states it to have been abundant at Matamoras, where it was 

 breeding, tliough he was too late for its eggs. He saw none at San Antonio, 

 but Mr. J. H. Clark was more fortunate. Numbers of them, he states, w^ere 

 seen nesting in the mesquite-trees on the prairies, at "which time they 

 were very musical, having sometimes as many as tliree nests in the same 

 tree. These were all built of fine grass, among the top branches, and inter- 

 woven with the leaves. Dr. AVoodhouse found it quite common in tlie 

 Indian Territory and in Eastern Texas. Specimens of this species were 

 taken by Mr. James AI. Leannan, at Panama, which is presumed to be the 

 most southern locality on record for this bird. 



