518 LAND BIRDS 
foliage, flitting through the open only en rowte to a fresh — 
pasture. Restless, shy, ever on the move, searching for 
caterpillars on the under sides of the leaves chickadee 
fashion, picking in the crevices for larvee like a nut- 
hatch, and snapping up grasshoppers with a little jump 
as do young meadowlarks, he is usually to be found 
within twelve feet of the ground. 
His wooing is as ardent as the brilliant plumage would 
typify. Rivals not a few he fights, and to the victor 
belongs the spoil, whether she will or no. With song or 
with harsh scolding note he wooes or threatens, giving 
her no peace until his suit is accepted. Then both 
gather material for the characteristic nest, which the 
female weaves. It is hung on the under side of a fan- 
palm leaf or in low trees or bushes, sometimes in: a 
bunch of mistletoe, sometimes in willow or gum trees, 
and in one instance, at Monrovia, California, it was hung 
to a banana leaf. In material used it differs radically 
from all the other oriole nests in California, for instead 
of gray or brown plant fibre, horsehair, string, shavings, 
and other grotesque accessories, it is built of green grass 
and the moss from the trees. It is sometimes stiffened 
with yucca fibre, but the prevailing color is invariably 
green, as in the nest of the orchard oriole ; hence it is 
exceedingly difficult to discover among the green leaves. 
By the time it has turned yellow the brood has flown. 
Not so deep nor so pensile as that of the other Cali- 
fornian varieties, it swings like a little basket from the 
slender support, or is secured by upright twigs to which 
its walls are fastened. In Texas the bird often hollows 
