SCOTT'S ORIOLE 243 



about 2 weeks, where they are fed by both parents. Mrs. Wheelock 

 (1904) writes: "Oriole nestlings in general are proverbial cry-babies, 

 and Scott Orioles are no exception. Insects of all sorts in all stages of 

 development, fruit, and berries are served to them in such quick succes- 

 sion as to leave small time for the parent to hunt any for himself. At first 

 the feeding is by regurgitation, but on the fourth or fifth day this 

 method gives place to the more commonly observed one." She says 

 that a second brood is reared in a new nest in another tree. 



Plumages. — In juvenal plumage, according to Brewster (1902), 

 "both sexes resemble the plain olive phase of the adult female, from 

 which they differ only in having the upper parts browner, the light 

 edging on the wing coverts and secondaries much broader and more 

 or less tinged with yellowish." Chapman (1923b) says: "Nestling 

 birds of both sexes are olive-green above, yellower below, with no 

 trace of black. At the postjuvenal (first fall molt) the male usually 

 acquires a black throat and the back is more or less streaked. These 

 markings, particularly above, are more or less fringed with grayish 

 and olive, and are not fully revealed until, with the advancing new 

 year, the feathers become worn and we have the first breeding plum- 

 age." In his plate illustrating this plumage, the wide black throat 

 patch extends upward to include the sides of the head and the fore- 

 head; the crown, hindneck, back, and lesser wing coverts are olive, 

 spotted or streaked (on the back) with black. This plumage was 

 evidently acquired by a partial postjuvenal molt involving all the 

 contour plumage and the wing coverts, but not the rest of the wings 

 nor the tail. The molt occurs in late July and August. There is 

 apparently no prenuptial molt of consequence. 



At the first postnuptial molt, the next summer, which is complete 

 there is a decided advance toward maturity, but at least another year 

 is required to assume the fully adult livery. During the spring migra- 

 tion in Arizona, Swarth (1904) secured a number of specimens of males 

 in every stage of plumage, from those indistinguishable from the more 

 highly colored females to those in fully adult plumage, all of which 

 he describes in more or less detail. 



The molts and plumages in the female are similar in sequence to 

 those of the male, usually without much visible change, but some 

 young birds acquire a little black on the throat at the postjuvenal 

 molt, and some adult females have as much black on the throat as 

 young males. 



Food. — Like other orioles, Scott's must feed largely on insects and 

 their larvae, but there is considerable evidence that it eats some fruit 

 and consumes the nectar from flowers, as some other orioles are known 

 to do. Mrs. Kate Stephens (1906) says: "In front of our sitting- 

 room window and six feet distant are several aloes of a small species, 



