ORCHARD OKIOLE. 285 



Genus TCTKIU'S liiiissox. 

 ICTERUS SPURTUS (Lrxx.). 



20(;. Orcferd Oriole. i-'Oi]) 



Mall : — Black ; lower back, riniii). lesser wing coverts, ami all under parts 

 from the throat, deep chestnut ; a w liitish bar across the tips of greatei- wing 

 coverts ; bill and feet, blue-lilack ; tail, graduated. Length, about 7 ; wing, 3J ; 

 tail, S. Female : — ^Smaller, plain yellowish-olive above, yellowish bulow ; 

 wings, dusky ; tips of the coverts and edges of the inner quills, whitisli ; known 

 from the /em a/ e of the other species by its smaller size and very slendei- l)ill. 

 Yoini;/ ma/e : — At first like the /em a/ e, afterwards showing confused characters 

 of both sexes ; in a particulai- stage it has a black mask and thioat. 



Hab. — United States, west to tlie Plains, south, in wintei-, to Panama. 



Nest, pensile, composed of grass and otlier string}' materials ingeniously 

 woven together and lined with wool or plant ilown, rather less in size and not 

 (juite so deep in proportion to its width as that of the Baltimoie. 



Eggs, four to six, l)luish-white, spotted and veined with l)ro\\ii. 



On the loth of May, 18G5, I shot an immature male of this sjiccies 

 in an orchard at Hamilton Beach, which was the first record for 

 Ontario. I did not see or hear of it again till the summer of ISS."), 

 when they were observed breeding at different points ai-ouud the 

 city of Hamilton, btit since that year they have not a])peare(l near 

 this place. 



Mr. Saunders informs me that they breed i-egulail\- and in consid- 

 erable numbers near London and west of that city, from which we 

 infer that the species enters Ontario around the west end of Lake 

 Erie, and does not come as far east as Hamilton. ^Most likely it 

 does not at present extend its migrations in Ontario very far from 

 the Lake Erie shore. The notes of the male are loud, clear and 

 delivered with great energy, as he sits perched on the bough of an 

 apple tree, or sails from one tree in the orchard to another. This 

 species would be a desiraljle aci[uisition to our garden birds, l)otli on 

 account of his pleasing plumage of black and brown, and because of 

 the havoc he makes among the insect pests which tVequent our 

 fruit trees. 



I learn from Dr. Macallum that the Orchaid Oriole breeds regu- 

 larly in small numbers along the north shore of Lake Erie, near 

 Dunnville, but it evidently does not proceed far north of our southern 

 boundary. One wandei-er, V)ut only one. is re])oited by Dr. Coues as 

 having appeared at PemV)ina. 



