242 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



fibers, sacaton, and gramma grass, and lined with a little horsehair." 



Another nest, taken by A. K. Fisher, in "Coso Valley, California, 

 on May 11, 1891, was situated on the under side of a horizontal limb 

 of a giant yucca (Yucca arborescens) , about 6 feet from the 

 ground. * * * Externally the nest measures 3% inches in depth by 

 5 inches in its longest diameter and 4 inches at the narrowest point. 

 The inner cup is oval in shape, 2% inches deep and 3% by 3 inches 

 wide." He mentions junipers as being used to a considerable extent, 

 and says that, in Baja California, Xantus reports it breeding "in 

 bunches of moss and in hop and other vines suspended from cacti. 

 He mentions finding one nest in a bunch of weeds growing out of a 

 crevice in a perpendicular rock." 



On June 1, 1922, we found four nests of Scott's oriole in the Valley 

 between Bisbee and Tombstone, as described above, each nest con- 

 taining four fresh eggs. The nests were all in soapweed yuccas (Yucca 

 baccata?) at heights ranging from 5 to 7 feet above ground. The yuccas 

 were widely scattered over the open plain, which was sparsely covered 

 with small creosote bushes. These picturesque plants (plate 16) 

 support a dense growth of long, stiff, sharp-pointed leaves at the top 

 of the sturdy trunk, but little higher than a man's head, and a tall 

 flowering stalk that rises to a height of 12 or 15 feet, above the trunk. 

 The dead, and some of the green, leaves hang down below the main 

 cluster of living daggers, close to and parallel with the trunk or at an 

 angle of about 45°. It is in these pendent leaves that the orioles con- 

 ceal their nests, where they are protected against predators and 

 shielded from sun or rain. The locations and the compositions of the 

 nests were so much like those described above by Mr. Scott that it 

 does not seem necessary to describe them further here, except that 

 our nests were lined with fine grasses and plant down, with no cotton 

 nor cotton-waste. 



In one nest we found an egg of the bronzed cowbird. 



Eggs. — Bendire (1895) describes the eggs as follows: 



From two to four eggs are laid (usually three), and probably two broods are 

 raised in the more southern parts of their range in a season. They are ovate and 

 elongate ovate in shape. The shell is thin, rather close grained and without luster. 



The ground color is pale blue, which fades considerably in the course of time, 

 and this is blotched, streaked, and spotted, principally about the larger end of the 

 egg, with different shades of black, mouse, and pearl gray in some specimens, and 

 and with fine claret brown, russet, ferruginous, and lavender dots and specks in 

 others. 



The average measurement of 25 specimens in the United States National Museum 

 collection is 23.86 by 16.98 millimetres, or about 0.94 by 0.67 inch. The largest 

 egg in this series measures 26.67 by 17.27 millimetres, or 1.05 by 0.68 inches; 

 the smallest, 23.11 by 15.49 millimetres, or 0.91 by 0.61 inch. 



Young. — Incubation is performed by the female alone, and is 

 said to last about 14 days. Probably the young remain in the nest for 



