ARIZONA HOODED ORIOLE 221 



wood and mesquite trees in the creek bottoms appeared to be its 

 favorite haunts. It is a shy, restless creature, nearly always on the 

 move, looking for insects of various kinds and their larvae, including 

 hairless caterpillars, and small grasshoppers." It may be doubted 

 whether the first statement of the foregoing quotation is still true, 

 as suitable habitats have increased greatly. 



Spring. — While Dawson (1923) found the hooded oriole beginning 

 to arrive in California late in March, corresponding dates for southern 

 Arizona may be somewhat later, W. E. D. Scott (1885) stating that 

 they arrive about the middle of April. For a time the males are more 

 frequently seen than the females. 



Courtship. — "During the mating season, beginning about the latter 

 part of April," says Bendire (1895), "several males may sometimes be 

 seen chasing a female and scolding and fighting each other for the 

 coveted prize." Little if anything has been published regarding any 

 characteristic courtship practices of this species, but I have seen an 

 adult male execute a series of exaggerated bows as he advanced 

 slowly along a horizontal limb of a tree in which a female was perched. 

 Again, in midsummer, a male in second-year plumage was observed 

 hopping round and round his mate in a tree, singing softly and re- 

 peatedly posturing with open bill directed toward the zenith, while 

 the female faced him, also with open bill. 



Nesting. — For a bird which spends most of its time comparatively 

 close to the ground, the Arizona hooded oriole chooses surprisingly 

 high nesting sites. With one exception hereinafter mentioned, the 

 numerous nests observed by Bendire (1895) and Scott (1885) in 

 Arizona ranged from 12 to 45 feet from the ground. 



As in the case of the cactus wren, a species having a somewhat 

 similar geographical range in the United States, the nesting materials 

 used by the hooded orioles seem to differ as between Arizona and 

 California, a difference hardly to be accounted for by the relative 

 availability of the materials. However, whereas the former seems to 

 construct grass nests only on the Pacific slope, the present species 

 uses such materials mainly at points farther east, and seldom in 

 California. The various nest descriptions quoted below plainly 

 bring out this difference. 



Bendire (1895) says: "In southern Arizona nidification begins 

 rather late, rarely before May 20, and sometimes later. In southern 

 California, however, it commences fully a month earlier, and a full 

 set of eggs was taken by Mr. Theodore D. Hurd, near Riverside, 

 California, on April 23." Referring to a nest containing three fresh 

 eggs, found in Arizona on June 5, he continues : 



It was suspended from a bunch of mistletoe growing on a limb of a cottonwood 

 tree, about 40 feet from the ground, and was hard to get at. This, like nearly 



