296 BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 



most skillfully wrought nests a bird ever made, a perfect basket, 

 hung by the handle to the drooping bayonets in such a way that the 

 sharp points protected it and yet left the bird an easy entrance. The 

 nest was made of yucca fiber, decorative touches being given by bits 

 of gray moss stuck on here and there. 



505a. Icterus CUCuUatus nelsoni Eidgw. Arizona Hooded 



Oriole. 



Adult male. — Pbmiage yellow, except for black of oval throat patch, 



fore part of back, wings, and tail, white bars and edg-ings of wings, and 



tip of tail. Adult, female : plain yellow below ; olive 



green above, washed with gray on back ; wings 



brownish with two white bands and whitish edgings 



to quills. Young males in second year : like adult 



females, but throat patch as in males. Young in 



first year: like adult female, but colors duller. 



plumage especially on upper parts suffused with 



brownish. Male : length (skins) 6.90-7.80, wing 



3.40-3.56, tail 3.22-3.78, bill .82-.87. Female: 



length (skins) 6.90-7.30, wing 3.18-3.26, tail 3.17-3.28, bill .78-.82. 



Distribution. — Breeds from Tepie, western Mexico, and Lower Califor- 

 nia north to southwestern New Mexico, Arizona, and through the southern 

 half of California west of the Sierra Nevada. 



Nest. — Cup-shaped, semipensile or securely attached to twigs on sides, 

 woven of materials like fresh wiry gras^ and yucca fibers, and placed in 

 such trees as sycamores, oaks, blue gums, figs, and palms ; usually made 

 of Spanish moss, often built in tufts of moss. Eggs : 3 to 5, speckled with 

 hair brown and with zigzag markings. 



Food. — Insects and larvse, including hairless caterpillars and small 

 grasshoppers. 



In southern California the Arizona form of cmullatus has an ag- 

 gravating way of spending his time hunting about in the chaparral, 

 coming into sight only as he makes short sallies into the air or dashes 

 " past you from one section of brush to another. 



He sings when out of sight, but the song is delivered with such 

 fervor that you can follow him by it when he is invisible. It is a 

 typical oriole song, a clear whistle with a rhythmic rise and fall, 

 and a chatter interposed between the high and low notes that sounds 

 as if he were taking breath. His mate is a quasi-musician, giving 

 his chatter and the first strain of his song. 



In southern Arizona, where nelsoni is most abundant, Major Ben- 

 dire says that its favorite haunts are dense, shady groves of cotton- 

 woods and mesquites in the creek bottoms. 



506. Icterus spurius {Linn.). Orchard Oriole. 



Adult male in spring and summer. — Black except for dark chestnut belly, 

 shoulders, and hinder part of back ; brown and whitish edgings of wings, 

 and light tip to tail. Adult male in fall and icinter : like summer male, 

 bu^ feathers of scapulars, interscapulars, and sometimes head and neck, 

 edged with buffy gray, olive, or chestnut ; those of under parts sometimes 



