Jan., 1909. Birds of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 561 



It breeds in May and June; the nest, which is built in a tree, is 

 composed of grass, occasionally more or less pendulous, but usually 

 supported in a crotch near the extremity of a branch. The eggs are 

 3 to 5, bluish white or dull white, scrawled and marked with dark 

 brown and lilac gray, and measure about .80 x .58 inches. 



Subgenus YPHANTES Vieill. 



230. Icterus galbula (Linn.). 



Baltimore Oriole. 



Distr. : Eastern United States and southern Canada, from the 

 Atlantic coast west to the eastern border of the Rocky Mountains, 

 south to Central America and northern South America; breeds 

 from Texas, Kansas, Mississippi, and the Carolinas northward. 



Adult male : Whole head, neck and back, black; rump and under 

 parts, except throat, bright orange; middle tail feathers, black, 

 rest of tail feathers, orange yellow; wings, black, the middle and 

 greater coverts more or less edged with white; bill, lead color. 



Adult males in full plumage sometimes show a tinge of red on the 

 breast. 



Adult female: Upper plumage, dull olive yellow, more or less 

 mixed with dusky; under parts, dull orange; throat, more or less 

 marked with dull black; tail and upper tail coverts, dull yellowish 

 orange, the middle tail feathers, darker. 



Immature males resemble the female, but have no black on the 

 throat, and are more highly colored. 



Length, 7.50; wing, 3.60; tail, 3; bill, .63. 



The Baltimore Oriole is a common summer resident in Illinois 

 and Wisconsin, arriving from the south in May (earliest Chicago 

 record, April 26). Wherever there are woods and orchards his loud 

 clear whistle, consisting of two or three notes, may be heard. 



The nest is usually suspended from twigs near the end of a branch 

 of a tree, usually at a considerable distance from the ground. This 

 pensile basket like structure is finely woven of grass, plant fibre, 

 hair, etc. The eggs are dull white, sparsely scrawled and marked 

 with dark brown or blackish. They are from 4 to 6 in number and 

 measure about .92 x .61 inches. 



