iSSj.] Scott oh the Nesting Habits of the Hooded Oriole. l6^ 



the structure are : exterior depth four and interior depth two 

 and a half inches. The shape of the interior is oval, the greater 

 diameter being three and a half and the lesser diameter two and 

 a quarter inches. The whole is rather bulky and unsym metrical, 

 and, though smoothly lined inside with fine dry grasses and 

 cotton string, the walls outside are rough and uneven. 



No. S. Nest of July 20. Built in a sycamore, fifteen feet from 

 the ground, and contained four eggs slightly incubated, and one 

 fresh egg of Alolothorus ater obscurns, which was fresh, and 

 measures .75 X .61. This is a true pensile nest, the shape being 

 that of a deep purse. It is built of the same materials through- 

 out — very fine dried grasses — aiid is almost concealed by several 

 large leaves, depending from twigs close by, being 'sewed' to 

 its walls outside. The walls are not at all thick, and the nest, 

 though deep, is'nbt bulkv. The external depth is six and the 

 internal depth five and a half inches. The greatest external 

 diameter is three and a quarter inches, and the diameter of the 

 opening, which is .round, is two and a half inches. 



No. 9. Nest of July 1. Built in a sycamore, forty-five feet 

 from the ground. «■ Had an incomplete set of eggs, the female 

 having been killed before all were laid. It is a very bulky and 

 elaborate structure, and a general view of it gives the impression 

 of a nest sixteen or seventeen inches in depth by seven inches in 

 diameter externally. The outside is composed of dried grasses 

 and the blades of a small kind of yucca, also dry. There are 

 many of these only partially woven into the structure by their 

 smaller ends, the rest of the blade, with its broad base, being 

 left hanging and dangling. These blades are about sixteen inches 

 long, are from one-half to three-quarters of an inch broad at the 

 base, and gradually taper to a sharp point. Only half of the 

 length is woven into the nest. It is truly pensile and the in- 

 terior is of about the average size, the walls being loosely woven 

 and very thick. The lining is of fine dried grasses and a little 

 cotton. Outside the nest proper is eight and a half inches deep, 

 but appears, from the dangling yucca blades, twice that depth. 

 The greatest external diameter of the nest proper is six inches, 

 though from the yucca blades this, too, appears larger. At one 

 point from the rim a sort of rope of grasses is woven to attach 

 it to a twig rather more than five inches above. The interior 

 diameter is three and a quarter inches at the opening of the nest, 



