YELLOW OR ORANGE CONSPICUOUS 521 
more with such tenderness just at dawn when his mate 
is on the nest. 
In nesting habits it resembles its Eastern relative, 
weaving a pensile bag-like affair of wild flax and plant 
fibre stiffened with horsehair and lined with plant down 
and fine moss. This is a typical nest, but string, bits of 
rag, and colored wool are often used also. The whole 
is fastened securely around the rim to the finer twigs of 
alder, eucalyptus, oak, juniper, or pepper. About San 
José, California, I have found it oftenest in pepper trees. 
In Texas and elsewhere it is said to hang its cradle in the 
bunches of mistletoe ; it may do this among the foot- 
hills, also, but it does not choose this site by preference. 
Most of the nests hang within fifteen feet of the ground, 
but I have found them forty feet up from the base of a 
tree on a steep slope. Although this species less fre- 
quently use the nest a second season than do the Balti- 
mores, they have a curious habit of building a second 
close beside the first and often fastened to it. There is 
no way of ascertaining whether or not it is the same pair 
who come back to their favorite location and build this 
addition to their old home, and in bird lore it is never safe 
to hazard a guess. Never having seen a male oriole of 
any species attempt to brood either the eggs or the 
young, I am convinced that in every case the fourteen 
days of incubation of this species is the task of the female 
alone. Her mate is always within calling distance, keep- 
ing a vigilant watch for squirrels, crows, and jays; and 
should any one of these enemies appear, not only he but 
the mother bird, joined by all the orioles and blackbirds 
