FAMILY IcteridcE 



dwellings they live in the maples where they 

 may be heard singing in the peculiar oriole 

 fashion, a series of gurgles and chuckles, re- 

 minding one of their blackbird relationship. 

 Their nest is a well-woven basket of plant 

 fibers, wiry grass, wool, horsehair and string, 

 lined with plant down and other soft sub- 

 stances. It is hung from the tip of some 

 slender branch and is swayed by every pass- 

 ing breeze. East of the mountains in the arid 

 plains country, where trees are scarce, every 

 poplar or cottonwood near a bit of w^ater is 

 festooned with these nests. 



The food of the Bullock oriole is said to be 

 chiefly insects and injurious caterpillars. The 

 birds are often seen in the berry patches but 

 are searching for insects rather than fruit. 



^. Northwestern red-wing, Agelaius 

 phoeniceus caurinus. 9.00 



Distribution: North w^est coast district 

 from British Columbia south through w^estern 

 Washington and Oregon to northern Cali- 

 fornia. The bi-colored red-wing of Oregon, 

 Washington and California, and the tri- 

 colored red-wing of the central valleys of 

 California, north into southwestern Oregon, 

 are closely allied species. 



Blackbirds are inseparably associated with 

 98 



