376 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



p. Adult male with breast, etc., intense orange-red, some- 

 times almost scarlet. Hab. Yucatan. 



I. cucullatus igneus Ridgw, Fiery Oriole.* 

 e^. Adult male with breast, etc., saffron-yellow, varying to gam- 

 boge (never orange). Nest exceedingly variable in form 

 and composition, but usually pensile or semipensile, and 

 comj)Osed of grass-stems (often gi"een) and various plant- 

 fibres. Eggs .89 X -62, averaging with decidedly darker 

 and heavier markings than those of true I. cucullatus. Hab. 

 "Western Mexico, north to Arizona, Lower California, and 

 southern California.. 505a. I. cucullatus nelsoni Eidgw. 



Arizona Hooded Oriole. 

 ■cl Tail shorter than wing (the latter less than 3.25), graduated for much 

 less than length of tarsus ; adult male chestnut and black. 



Adult male: Head, neck, middle of chest, back, scapulars, wings 

 (except lesser and middle coverts), and tail deej^ black, the 

 greater wing-coverts, quills, and secondaries edged, more or less 

 distinctly, with pale chestnut or whitish ; rest of plumage uni- 

 form rich dark chestnut or bay, deepest on breast. Adult fe- 

 male : Upper parts yellowish olive, much duller and grayer on 

 back and scapulars ; wings grayish dusky, with two white 

 ■ bands, all the feathers with paler brownish gray edgings; tail 

 yellowish olive, like rump, etc. ; lower pai'ts entirely light olive- 

 yellow. Young male, second year : Similar to adult female, but 

 lores, chin, and throat black. (The chestnut and rest of the 

 black appearingrin patches, increasing in extent, during suc- 

 cessive seasons.) Young of year : Similar to adult female, but 

 suffused with brownish, especially on upper parts. Length 

 6.00-7.25, wing 2.90-3.25, tail 2.65-3.20. Nest composed of 

 green wiry grass-stems, interwoven into a firm basket-like 

 structure usually supported between upright twigs near the 

 extremity of a branch (but sometimes parti}' pendulous), lined 

 with softer materials. Eggs 3-5, .79 X -57, pale bluish, bluish 

 white, or greenish white, speckled and " pen-lined" with brown 

 and black, usually mixed more or less with lilac-gray. Hab. 

 Eastern United States, west to Great Plains ; south, in winter, 

 through Middle America to Panama. 



506. I. spurius (Linn.). Orchard Oriole. 

 a\ Depth of bill at base equal to half the length of the exposed culmen. (Sub- 

 genus Yphantes Yieillot.) 

 b\ Wing usually not more than 3.80, tail not more than 3.15 ; adidt male with 

 whole head black, lesser wing-coverts wholly orange or yellow, white 

 of wings confined to tips of greater coverts and narrow edgings of 



1 Icterus cucullatus igneus RiDGW., Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. viii. April 20, 1885, 19. 



