Exhibit in Chicago Natural History Museum 



Montezuma Oropendula 



A nesting colony of oropendulas is one of the most arresting sights to be found in 

 tropical America. The huge pendent nests are neatly woven of grasses, tendrils, or 

 strips of bark and may be as much as six feet deep. From a distance they could easily be 

 mistaken for some exotic tropical fruit were it not for the birds that pass back and forth 

 continually while repairing the nests or feeding their young. 



Oropendulas are the largest members of a characteristic New World family repre- 

 sented in the United States by meadow-larks, grackles, cowbirds, bobolinks, and 

 orioles. The twelve species and numerous geographical varieties of oropendulas com- 

 prise five genera that are well represented in tropical lowlands from southern Mexico 

 to Paraguay. All construct deep, sack-like nests similar to those in the exhibit. Unlike 



[821 



