YELLOW OR ORANGE CONSPICUOUS 515 
Aduit Female: Upper parts olive-green, yellow on rump and outer tail- 
feathers ; two white wing-bars ; under parts greenish yellow. 
Young: Similar to adult female, but under parts less yellow, and breast 
brownish ; wing-bar yellow, and all wing-feathers tipped with white ; 
tail tipped with yellow. 
Geographical Distribution: Western Texas to California, and from south- 
ern parts of Utah and Nevada south to Lower California. 
California Breeding Range: In desert regions southeast of the Sierra 
Nevada. 
Breeding Season: May to June 15, 
Nest: A pouch-shaped affair; woven of string, grass, and yucca fibre ; 
hung under yucea leaves or in other low trees. 
Eggs: 2to 4; light blue, marked with brown and gray. Size 0.96 X 
0.68. 
WueErE the tree yuccas grow, the Scott Oriole makes 
his home. His brilliant lemon and black plumage and 
merry song are a welcome bit of life in the arid desert 
regions of Southeastern California. There, in the cool 
of the morning, or when the intense heat of noonday 
beats down from the cloudless sky and up from blister- 
ing sand, and all the other birds are still, he pipes his 
clear, sweet roundelay. Even when worn with the cares 
of a family of two he sings — less often perhaps and less 
rapturously than when the spring called him to woo his 
mate, but still with a bubbling overflow of joy. A little 
way up the valley is his nest, swung under the sword- 
like leaves of the yucca and securely fastened with its 
coarse, thread-like fibre. Here, concealed by the dead 
leaves, the mother bird sits all day long for two weeks, 
and keeps the eggs warm, often singing softly to herself 
the same sweet lullaby. Her devoted mate feeds her 
and stands guard on a near-by tree, but I have never 
seen him attempt to get into the nest to take her place 
when she is absent. He will peer into it with ludicrous 
