196 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



superciliary stripe, mostly concealed, however, by the black tips of the 

 feathers. The middle coverts, like the lesser, are pure plain orange. 



A male from Cape May, N. J. (59,458, May), has the middle coverts white, 

 and the lesser wholly uniform black. The head, however, is as in typical 

 specimens. 



In a series of twenty adult spring males from Carlisle, Penn., seven have 

 the middle coverts more or less white. But it is noticed that all these speci- 

 mens with white middle coverts have invariably less intense colors than 

 those with orange shoulders, while in the Kansas specimens the other colors 

 are of the brightest character. 



A male from Washington (12,317, May 6) is exactly similar. 



Habits. The familiar Baltimore Oriole, the Golden Eobin of the New 

 England States, is found throughout eastern North America, at various sea- 

 sons, from Texas to the British Possessions, and from tlie Atlantic to the 

 plains. It is, however, for the most part, not common beyond the Missis- 

 sippi River. It has been traced as far to the north as the 55th parallel 

 of latitude, and probably breeds more or less abundantly in every State 

 east of the Mississippi Eiver. It is rare in Florida, and is not given by 

 Mr. Allen as known to that State, but I have received its nest and eggs 

 from Monticello in West Florida. The Sndthsonian Museum embraces 

 specimens from as far west as Powder River and the Yellowstone. 



Mr. J. A. Allen (Am. Naturalist, June, 1872) mentions finding this species 

 at the base of the Eocky Mountains, in Colorado, which he regards as its 

 extreme western limit. In Kansas he found this species, as well as the 

 Orchard Oriole, abundant, the Baltimore indulging in a dialect so different 

 from that of its northern relatives as often to puzzle him to make out to 

 what bird its strange notes belonged. Its colors were also unusually bright 

 in all the specimens he examined. 



Mr. Boardman gives it as very rare at Calais, but Professor Verrill thinks 

 it common in Western Maine. It is abundant throughout the southern 

 and central portions of Vermont .and New Hampshire, and in all New York, 

 It is a common summer resident at Hamilton, Ontario, where it arrives the 

 second week in May. It was found on the plains of the Saskatchewan by 

 Captain Blakiston. 



Mr. Dresser states it to have been abundant at Matamoras, where it was 

 breeding, though he was too late for its eggs. He saw none at San Antonio, 

 but Mr. J. H. Clark was more fortunate. Numbers of them, he states, were 

 seen nesting in the mesquite-trees on the prairies, at which time tliey 

 were very musical, having sometimes as many as three nests in the same 

 tree. These were all built of fine grass, among the top branches, and inter- 

 woven with the leaves. Dr. Woodhouse found it quite common in the 

 Indian Territory and in Eastern Texas. Specimens of this species were 

 taken by Mr. James M. Leannan, at Panama, which is presumed to be the 

 most southern locality on record for this bird. 



