BALTIMORE ORIOLE 265 



the deeply shaded lower regions of the forest, and so is not often seen 

 by the bird-watcher who wanders through the heavy woodlands. 



"During the winter months, the Baltimore orioles roam about 

 singly, or in small groups of two, three, or four, more often than in 

 larger groups. Although a dozen or so may at times be seen feasting 

 together in some especially attractive flowering or fruiting tree, or 

 may share the same roost, the birds are only slightly gregarious during 

 this season and form no big, closely knit flocks like those of wintering 

 dickcissels and cedar waxwings. Adult males pass the winter in 

 brightest orange-and-black plumage, and are excelled in beauty by 

 few even of the most brilliant of the native birds; but females and 

 young males predominate. 



"Although less songful while in Central America than the orchard 

 orioles, Baltimore orioles often voice their clear, full whistles, espe- 

 cially during the first weeks following their arrival in the fall, and 

 with greater frequency for a month or so before their northward 

 departure in the spring. Rarely, as when the sun breaks through the 

 clouds at the end of an afternoon shower in April, they charm the 

 hearer with a somewhat sustained performance ; but for the most part 

 they utter only single notes and brief fragments of song — tantalizing 

 suggestions of the full, mellow verses they will soon be broadcasting 

 from northern elm trees. A sharp churr is the oriole's most frequent 

 utterance while in its winter home. 



"I have often discovered the sleeping places of the Baltimore 

 orioles, and found them as catholic in their choice of a roosting site 

 as of habitat and food. In the cleared portion of the Lancetilla 

 Valley in northern Honduras, a number of them roosted, during the 

 winter of 1930-31, in an extensive stand of tall 'elephant grass' 

 (Pennisetum purpureum), a tangled and impenetrable gramineous 

 jungle higher than a tall man's head. Here they slept along with 

 wintering orchard orioles, resident Lesson's orioles (Icterus prosthe- 

 melas), four species of small resident finches, and migrating kingbirds 

 which rested here for a while before continuing southward. In the 

 hamlet of Buenos Aires in southern Costa Rica, Baltimore orioles 

 roosted among the broad, close-set foliage of the tall Dracaena 

 fragrans — a tree of the lily family — that bordered both sides of the 

 path leading up to the little church. The orioles began to gather 

 shortly before sunset, and as the day waned continued to fly in, one 

 or a few at a time. They darted into the trees very suddenly and from 

 all sides, and then sometimes shifted about from tree to tree before 

 they became comfortable for the night. This manner of going to 

 roost made it impossible to make an accurate count of their numbers, 

 but certainly a score of the orioles took shelter in these trees. When 

 finally they had settled down, they were completely screened from my 



