ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 87 



were deserted : but I have known the Hooded Oriole to sit on an 

 egg of M. ceneus, which was on the point of hatching wlien found ; 

 how its own disappeared I cannot say. Once two eggs of (enens 

 were found in a nest of the small Orchard Oriole (var. ajfinis). Twice 

 I have seen a broken egg of cfneus under nests of Bullock's Oriole 

 on which the owner was sitting. 



Early in June a nest of the Hooded Oriole was found with four 

 eggs and one of M. ceneus, all of which I removed, leaving the nest. 

 Happening to pass by it a few days later, I looked in, and to my 

 surprise found two eggs of ceneus, which were taken ; these were so 

 unlike that they were probably laid by different birds. Still an- 

 other egg, and the last, was laid in the same nest within ten days. 

 But the most remarkable instance was a nest of the small Orchard 

 Oriole, found June 20, containing three eggs of ameus, while just be- 

 neath it was a whole egg of this parasite, also a broken one of this 

 and of the Dwarf Cowbird (var. ohsciirus). Two of the eggs in the 

 nest were rotten; the third, strange to say, contained a living 

 embryo. As the nest was certainly deserted, I can only account for 

 this by supposing that the two rotten ones were laid about the first 

 week of June, when there was considerable rain, and that the other 

 was deposited soon after, since which time the weather had been 

 clear and very hot. On one occasion I found a female ceneus hang- 

 ing with a stout thread around its neck to a nest of the Bullock's 

 Oriole. Tlie nest contained one young one of this Cowbird, and 

 it is probable that its parent, after depositing the egg, was entangled 

 in the thread on hurriedly leaving the nest, and there died ; it had. 

 apparently been dead about two weeks. This case supports the 

 view that the eggs or young of the owner are thrown out by the 

 young parasite, and not removed by its parent, though I could find 

 no trace of them beneath the nest. 



Twenty-two eggs of J/, ceneus average .90 X •'i^, the exti-emes 

 being .95 X -75 and .82 X .65, The color is a greenish-white, iin- 

 spottecl, soon fading to a dull opciqtie lohite. There is more than the 

 usual variation in shape. Some are almost perfectly elliptical, others 

 are nearly round ; some are quite pointed at the smaller end, while 

 othei's still are there abruptly truncate. 



The young, soon after leaving the nest, have the plumage uniform 

 dull black ; cheeks and sides of head bare ; iris brown. 



Fort Brown, Texas. 



