BULLOCK'S ORIOLE. 487 



tribiition. It is only a summer resident with us, arriving usually trom its winter 

 liaunts in Mexico during- the last half of March, and niovino- slowly north- 

 ward, reaches the more northern parts of its breeding range from a mouth to 

 six weeks later. It appears to be much rarer in the immediate vicinity of the 

 seacoast than in the Great Basin regions, where it is common nearly everywhere, 

 especially if sufficient water is found to support a few stunted cotton woods and 

 willows. During my extensive wanderings through nearly all of the States west 

 of the Rocky Mountains, and extending from the JMexican to the British Ijorders, 

 I have met with this species almost everywhere in the lowlands, and in some 

 localities have found it very abundant. Like the Baltimore Oriole, it avoids 

 densely wooded regions and the higher mountains. It is es])ecially abundant 

 in the rolling prairie country, traversed here and there by small streams having- 

 their sources in some of the many minor mountain rang-es which are such promi- 

 nent features of the landscape in portions of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. 

 These streams are fringed with groves of cottonwodd, mixed with birch, willow, 

 and alder bushes, whicli are the favorite i-esorts of this Oriole durino- the 

 breeding season. Tlie immediate vicinity of water is, liowever, not considered 

 absolutely necessary, as I have found it nesting fulh- ;i mile or more away 

 from it on liillsides, the edges of table-lands, and in isolated trees or even iu 

 bushes. In Colorado it is said to be found at altitudes of over 8,000 feet, but 

 as a rule it prefers nmch lower elevations. I also met with it at Fort Custer, 

 Montana, wliere, lio\ve\'er, it was not common, and along the eastern border of 

 its range it overla])s that of the Baltimore Oriole for considerable distances. In 

 western Texas it is coihiikhi and breeds as far s(mth as the mouth of tlie Rio 

 Orande. It also lireeds iu northern L<iwer California and northern Mexico. In 

 southern Arizona and New Mexico I found it not uncommon, but not nearly as 

 abundant as in eastern Oreg-on and in Idaho, where it was present ever\'where 

 in suitable localities. In the vicinity of Fort Lapwai, Idalio, it was especially 

 abundant, and, although suital)le nesting sites were by no means scarce, I have 

 seen three occupied nests of tliis Oriole in a small birch tree close to a nest of 

 the Arkansas Flycatcher, showing them to be very socialde birds. Near Camp 

 Harney, Oregon, a Swainson's Hawk, an Arkansas Fljcatcher, and a pair of 

 this species nested iu the same tree, a good-sized jjine. Dr. A. K. Fisher tells 

 me that he saw hundreds of these nests iu a large row of cottonwoods, east of 

 Plioenix, Arizcma, in June, 1S!)2. 



The call notes of Bullock's Oriole are very similar to those of tlie Baltimore, 

 l)ut its song is neither as pleasing to the ear nor as clear and melodious as 

 that of the latter. Its food is similar, and consists principally of insects and 

 a: few wild berries. Nidification begins late in May, and fresh eggs may be 

 looked for throughout the greater part of its range during the first week in June. 

 In southern California, Arizona, and southwestern Texas a few breed some- 

 times by May If), but rarely earlier. 



The nest resembles that of the Baltimore Oriole, but as a ride it is not 

 quite as pensile, and many are more or less securely fasten(Ml l)y tlie sides as 

 well as by the rim to some of the adjoining twigs. The general make-uj) is 



