THE AUK: 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 



ORNITHOLOGY. 

 vol. ii. January, 1885. No. 1 



ON THE BREEDING HABITS OF SOME ARIZONA 



BIRDS. 



First Paper. — Icterus pari so rum. 



BY W. E. D. SCOTT. 



During the spring and summer of 1S84 it was my good fortune 

 to make the acquaintance of a number of birds whose breed- 

 ing habits are at best but little known, and the following data 

 give some of the results of such observations. Most of the 

 notes on the species in question were made at a point, to 

 be more fully described presently, on the San Pedro slope 

 of the .Santa Catalina Mountains, in Pinal County, Arizona 

 Territory. 



Here Scott's Oriole {Icterus parisorum) arrives about the 

 middle of April, and is at once among the more conspicuous 

 birds, both for its brilliant plumage and rich song. Few birds 

 sing more incessantly, and in fact I do not recall a species in the 

 Eastern or Middle States that is to be heard as frequently. The 

 males are of course the chief performers, but now and again, 

 near a nest, while watching the birds, I would detect a female 

 singing the same glad song, onlv more softly. At the earliest day- 

 break and all day long, even when the sun is at its highest, and 

 during the great heat of the afternoon, its very musical whistle is 

 one of the few bird songs that are ever present. 



