CALIFORNIA HOODED ORIOLE 227 



Nesting. — Like the Arizona race, this hooded oriole chooses nesting 

 sites high up in trees. Florence Merriam Bailey (1910) says: "In 

 choosing between individual [palm] trees, the taller seem to be given 

 the preference." In California this oriole has been found nesting, 

 not only in cottonwoods, as in Arizona, but also in walnut, cypress, 

 gum, and fan palms, the fibers of which are used as nesting material. 



The California oriole does not, like the more eastern races, construct 

 its nest out of grasses. Bendire (1895) speaking of the Arizona hooded 

 oriole, noted that a full set of eggs, undoubtedly of the California race, 

 was found near Riverdale, Calif., by Theodore D. Hurd on April 23. 



A good account of the nesting of the hooded oriole in southwestern 

 California is found in the notes of J. F. Illingworth (1901), who states 

 "it is difficult to find two nests of the Bullock's Oriole alike in shape or 

 material, as they use almost anything they can find in the way of 

 fiber." He continues: 



The nests * * * on the other hand are very much alike, and I have never 

 found one made of other material than the palm-fiber. The locations, too, are 

 similar, a tree with large leaves being usually selected and a favorite position is 

 under the broad, corrugated leaves of the palm. These form an excellent shelter 

 from both rain and sun. They drill holes through the thick leaves with their 

 sharp, slender beaks and tie the nest to them with palm-fiber. Often the nest i3 

 hung between several leaves such as those of the fig tree, when holes are cut and 

 the palm-fibers laced in and out through them, thus drawing the leaves together 

 to form the outside of the nest. The leaves not only aid in the nest structure 

 but also form the best possible concealment. 



An average nest * * * is 3.50 inches deep and 2.50 inches wide inside measure- 

 ments, while the outside is about four inches deep and four across. Nests of 

 both the Bullock's and Arizona Hooded Orioles are frequently taken possession 

 of by House Finches, sometimes even before the orioles have finished them, but 

 more often after they are deserted. 



From an article on "the palm-leaf oriole" by Florence Merriam 

 Bailey (1910) the following excerpts relating to nesting are obtained: 



In eight towns and three country places in the general region between Redlands 

 and San Diego in the summer of 1907, I counted forty nests made of palm fibers 

 and hung in fan palms, and twelve others made of palm fiber and hung in other 

 trees. * * * The great variety of palms used for decorative purposes in southern 

 California gives the oriole a wide range of choice in nesting sites, but with one 

 exception, that of a yucca-like palm in Santa Ana, the nests found were in the 

 common native Washington fan palm, or in one too nearly like it to be distin- 

 guished by the unbotanical. The wisdom of the choice is easily appreciated for 

 the narrow leaves of the date palm offer no protection from the hot California 

 sun while the wide leaves of the fan palms are natural umbrellas, and among fan 

 palms the short-stemmed varieties with close-set leaves would give little of the 

 breeziness given by this long-stemmed one whose leaves fan reasonably free from 

 each other. * * * By the time I had listed the fifty-two nests made of palm 

 fiber, forty of which were hung in the palm, it seemed that, in southern California 

 at least, nelsoni had won its right to the name of Palm-leaf Oriole. 



