1885. Scott on the Breeding Habits oj Scott's, Oriole. ^ 



There are many yuccas ( Yucca baccata) in the canon and on 

 the hillside, none of them exceeding - ten feet in height, and it 

 was in one of these, only a few feet from a wood near where 

 some one passed daily, and close to a 'tank' of water, that on 

 May 24 I found the first nest. It was carefully concealed under 

 the half dead and dry leaves that hung downward close to the 

 trunk of the plant. Two of the long pointed blades had still 

 heen green enough to allow the pulp to he picked away, and the 

 tough fihers had then heen frayed and used as a sort of starting- 

 point or foundation for the structure which was thus -sewed' — I 

 know no more appropriate word — fast to the edges of the leaf. 

 I only caught a glimpse of the female and was not sure of the 

 bird till later, when both parents were identified to my satisfac- 

 tion. 



The nest contained three fresh eggs, though four is the usual 

 number, as three nests found during the next few days proved. 

 These nests were all built in yuccas, none were far from water, 

 and, strangely, for a rather shy and suspicious bird, all were 

 within ten feet of the road. The last, that of May 30, to be 

 spoken of in detail presently, was so near a much used trail, that 

 the passer by might have touched it with the hand. The follow- 

 ing descriptions of the nests in detail are copied from my notes : 



"Nest of May 24. Built in a yucca, four feet from the ground. 

 Sewed to the edges of five dead leaves which, hanging down 

 parallel to trunk of the plant, entirely concealed the nest. Semi- 

 pensile. Composed externally of fihers of the yucca and 

 fine grasses. Lined with soft grasses and threads of cotton- 

 waste throughout. The walls are very thin, at bottom not more 

 than half an inch, and on the sides horn one-eighth to a quarter 

 of an inch thick. The whole nest was rather closely woven and 

 very strong. Inside depth, three and a half inches. Inside diam- 

 eter, four inches. The whole cup-shaped. Contains three fresh 

 eggs. The female was killed flying from the nest, or the set 

 would have been completed. Eggs bluish-white in color, with 

 a cluster of chocolate-brown spots, and others of lighter lilac- 

 brown at the larger end. spotted very sparsely all over, mainly 

 with a still lighter shade of the latter color, though a very few of 

 these dispersed markings are also dark chocolate-brown. They 

 measure .98 X .69, .92 X .65, r.oo X .73 inches, respectively. 

 I have called this nest semi-pensile, as the edges of the yucca 



