SCOTT'S ORIOLE 245 



and during the height of the breeding season often many were singing 

 within hearing at the same time." 



Dawson (1923) refers to it as "a golden song which poured down 

 from a sycamore tree hard by. Ly ti ti tee to, ti ly ti ti te to, came the 

 compelling outburst. I took it for a freak Meadowlark song at first, 

 but once thoroughly aroused, knew it for an Icterine carol — ly ti ti 

 tee to, ti ly ti ti tee to — molten notes with a fond thrill to them, more 

 restrained than the clarion of the Meadowlark, smoother and sweeter 

 than the tumult of a Bullock Oriole, and, of course, with the double 

 repetition, a much longer song than either." 



Grinnell (1910) says of it: "The song was loud and full, better 

 than that of the Bullock Oriole. It reminded me of the best efforts 

 of the latter bird, and yet bore a strong resemblance in its quality 

 to the song of the Western Meadowlark." Others hcve noted this 

 resemblance, which is a high compliment. 



Field Marks. — The brilliant male in full plumage is strongly 

 marked; the entire head, throat, neck, back, and the terminal part of 

 the tail are black; the wings are mainly black, with yellow lesser 

 coverts and broad white bands on the median and greater coverts; 

 the breast, rump and much of the lateral tail feathers are bright lemon 

 yellow, not orange as in most other orioles. 



The female is yellowish olive above, mottled with dusky, and paler 

 yellow below, but she has a black throat and two white wing bars. 

 Other details are mentioned under plumages. 



Fall. — As is the case with most other orioles, Scott's oriole is not 

 much in evidence after the young are on the wing, and with the waning 

 of the summer it seems to disappear from its breeding haunts. Mr. 

 Scott (1885) writes: "After August 7 I missed the song, although the 

 birds were abundant until the 10th of that month, and I saw a single 

 bird or so for the following three days. Then I supposed they were 

 all gone, but on the 14th of September, about dusk, I started one, an 

 adult male, from a yucca where he had evidently gone to roost. He 

 scolded angrily at me from the dead limb of a cedar near by for a few 

 moments, when I left him to go to bed. Again, on the 18th of Sep- 

 tember, I heard a male in full song, and going closer found a party 

 of four together, three old males and a young one of the year. This 

 is my last note of their occurrence at this point." 



Winter. — Scott's oriole spends the winter south of our border, in 

 central and southern Mexico, as far south as Veracruz, Guerrero, 

 Puebla, and the Cape region of Baja California. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Nevada, Arizona, and western Texas to central Mexico. 

 Breeding range. — Scott's oriole breeds from southern Nevada 



