ORCHARD ORIOLE 195 



of the trunk, about 11 feet up. The young had left the nest between 

 June 24 and 26, 1942. The nest was removed and examined June 

 29. It was a pendulous affair of wire grass with its bottom still 

 green. Outside it was 3% inches deep and 3 by 3% inches across. 

 Inside it was 2}i inches deep and 2% by 3 inches across. It was 

 difficult to understand why it had not fallen as had another, blown 

 out of a pecan in a storm about May 23, 1946. This nest, when 

 examined June 8, was composed of golden wire grass, and measured 

 outside of 2% inches deep and 3% by 4 inches across. Inside it was 

 2% inches deep and 2)i by 2}' t across. The proportions of the latter 

 were the same as the three other nests observed. One could see 

 through the bottom of all five nests." 



M. G. Vaiden writes to me from Rosedale, Miss. : "In this immediate 

 area the orchard oriole prefers the country district to the small town; 

 it is just the opposite with the Baltimore oriole, a bird found almost 

 exclusively breeding within town limits. The orchard oriole can be 

 found nesting over the water in the small cottonwood and switch- 

 willow growths usually found in shallow to deep barrow-pits. It is a 

 most numerous nesting bird in such areas, constructing its semipensile 

 nest near the top of the swinging treetop, or out at a short distance 

 from the top on a limb. Most of the nests have been found in switch- 

 willow or finger-cottonwood growth, but not all are found over water. 

 Occasionally a very large pecan, cottonwood, sycamore, or elm will 

 be found to contain a nest of the orchard oriole. Two nests have 

 been found within the town limits." 



The following account of the nesting habits of the orchard oriole 

 in northwestern Florida comes to me from Francis M. Weston: "The 

 typical nest of the orchard oriole is suspended from a forked terminal 

 twig, usually of a large tree, after the manner of the much pictured 

 nest of the Baltimore oriole, but it is never deep enough to be described 

 as 'pensile' — its depth is usually less than its outside diameter. In- 

 variably, the nest is woven of long blades of green grass that later 

 turn yellow and give the nest of this species its characteristic color. 

 I was thoroughly familiar with the st}de and normal situation of this 

 nest before I came to Pensacola, so it was a source of surprise and 

 disappointment to me that I succeeded in finding only a few nests 

 here where the birds are so common. It was years before I could 

 account for my failure. Then, on May 20, 1923, I saw a female 

 oriole disappear into a dense festoon of Spanish 'moss' (Dcndropogon 

 usneoides) that hung from a low branch of a deciduous oak (Quercus 

 sp.). Within the festooa, I found a nest, typical in structure, size, 

 shape and color, but unique in that it was not attached to a twig of 

 the tree but was wholly supported by the strands of the 'moss' — after 

 the manner of the nests of the parula and the yellow-throated war- 



