234 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



The oriole's nest must meet certain specifications if it is to be boldly advertised, 

 of course. It must provide proper conditions of temperature and air for the eggs 

 and young birds in spite of hanging, hour after hour, exposed to the sun. It 

 must be tough enough, long enough, far enough out on the branch, and far enough 

 above the ground to make a coati-mundi (Nasua) "think twice'' before attempting 

 a raid. It must be too deep for Brown Jays to rob easily, too tough to tear apart, 

 too much like a trap to appeal to the female Red-eyed Cowbird (Tangavius aeneus). 

 The fact that Icterus gvlaris is common proves it to be a successful species. We 

 may believe, therefore, that its own peculiar method of nest-advertising is advan- 

 tageous rather than otherwise. 



Eggs. — Bendire (1895) describes an egg from Guatemala "as a pale 

 gray, blotched and streaked with very dark brown; it measures 1 by 

 0.70 inch." Dickey and van Rossem (1938) say: "The eggs are 

 similar to those of sclateri and pectoralis, that is, they are elongate 

 ovate, with the bluish white ground color lined, scrawled, and irregu- 

 larly spotted with black. A set of three eggs collected at Lake Guija 

 May 23, 1927, measure respectively: 29.8 x 19.2; 29.6 x 18.5; and 

 29.1 x 19.3. Three and four eggs are the usual numbers laid." 



Alexander F. Skutch mentions in his notes an egg of this species, 

 taken in Guatemala, that "was of an extremely elongate form, in 

 color white irregularly scrawled with lines of black and pale lilac, 

 and measured 27.4 by 17.5 millimeters." It was on the point of 

 hatching and was probably somewhat faded. 



Young. — In his notes on another race of this species, Icterus gularis 

 xerophilus, Skutch writes: "On July 19, I watched a nest which con- 

 tained two young about ready to leave it. The repeated passage of 

 the adults while feeding then nestlings had torn and enlarged the 

 entrance until the entire side was open to within a few inches of the 

 bottom, a not infrequent occurrence with nests of this type. When 

 one of the parents clung to the outside to deliver an insect, two heads 

 stretched forth, open-billed, to receive it. A third nestling had 

 already departed, and awaited his share of the good things in the 

 next tree. The whole time that I was within hearing, both parents, 

 who united in feeding their offspring, uttered a continuous succession 

 of single notes of three different kinds, and each as full of sunshine as 

 their golden plumage. Whether they searched among the foliage for 

 larvae and insects, or returned with food in then* bills to the nest, or 

 clung to its side in the interval between feeding their offspring and 

 carrying away the droppings, then joy in their occupation constantly 

 expressed itself in these happy monosyllables. Even when they 

 interrupted their parental ministrations to scold at my intrusion, 

 their churring protests were punctuated with these notes of gladness, 

 which they never seemed able, or willing, to suppress. Never have 

 I heard other birds, save vireos, sing so continuously." 



He says that orioles of this race in Guatemala raise two broods in a 



