ARIZONA HOODED ORIOLE 223 



Henshaw (1875) thus describes the nests observed in Arizona: 

 "I saw quite a number of what I took to be the nests of this species, 

 suspended low down from the branches of the cottonwoods and various 

 deciduous trees; one or two being not more than ten feet from the 

 ground. These were made of grasses, and woven and interwoven in 

 such a manner as to make a very firm durable nest, and shows that 

 this species is not inferior to its allies in the art of construction." Scott 

 (1885) says: "Two broods are raised, and not infrequently three, dur- 

 ing their stay here, and a new home is built for each brood. The old 

 birds are great workers when building their nests, and the rapidity 

 with which so elaborate a structure is completed is astonishing. Three 

 or four days at most generally suffice to complete the structure." He 

 then describes in considerable detail 10 nests in a canyon, presumably 

 near Tucson — 



All taken from three kinds of trees, cottonwood, sycamore, and a kind of ash; 

 and, considering that the location of all were not a mile apart, it would seem that 

 taste or fancy had much to do with producing in the same locality, where the 

 materials used by all of the builders are abundant and easily obtained, structures 

 varying so widely in general appearance, in the materials of which they are 

 built, and in their method of building, as well as in mode of attachment to the 

 tree. 



Some of the nests, it will be seen, are as truly pensile as those of Icterus galbula; 

 others are more like those of Icterus spurius; while one at least rests on a stout 

 twig and is hardly to be regarded as a hanging nest at all. 



Of the 10 nests, 8 are described as composed mainly of grasses, either 

 coarse or fine, 1 of yucca fibers, and 1 of a combination of these 2 

 materials. In addition to these, he mentions nests built in clumps of 

 mistletoe in mesquite trees, and also an unusual nesting site at a 

 height of only 8 feet on the trunk of a yucca in the open desert. 



Eggs. — The eggs are indistinguishable in size and appearance from 

 those of other races of the species, as described under Sennett's hooded 

 oriole. 



Young. — Bendire (1895) gives the incubation period as 12 to 14 

 days. Irene G. Wheelock (1904) says: "Incubation lasts thirteen 

 days, and in this the male takes no part." Since the nesting sites 

 usually chosen do not readily lend themselves to observation of the 

 interiors of the nests, statistics relative to the development of the 

 young are not plentiful. According to Mrs. Wheelock (1904), "The 

 young Orioles are born naked except for flecks of down on the crown 

 and along the back. They are fed by regurgitation for four or five 

 days. The eyes open on the fourth day, and pinfeathers soon begin 

 to darken the skin. In two weeks the nestlings are fully fledged, 

 looking much like the mother, and are ready for their d6but. Never- 

 theless they are very helpless, and are fed and cared for by both 

 parents for some time after leaving the nest." 



