200 NORTH AMEIilCAN BfRDS. 



the ir»tli of ^lav, ami were very cnmnioii ainoiiLr the L)w oaks of tliat roirioii. 

 lie s])eaks of its soiilj as very j>leasaiit, and esj)e('ially iiielo«Uoiis early in tlie 

 morning, when the hird is generally ])erched un tlie sunny side or top of 

 an oak. 



At I'u^et Sound, aceonling to I>r. Cooper, tlu'se birds do not arrive until 

 tlie Iteuiuuing of June, and are ac no time very common there. He deserilies 

 tlit ir liahits as similar to th(»se of tiie spurltf'^, they hein^' shy and dillieult to 

 discover amonu tlu; fnliaiic. Their son«^ is more like that of the IJaltiniore, 

 loud, clear, and varied. 



In liis lJep«»rt on the birds of California. T>r. Cooper states that tliese birds 

 arrive at San Diego, from the soutli, about March 1 ; but at Fort Mnliave, one 

 hundred and sixtv miles farther north, he saw none unt ' a month later. 

 Like the Daltimoie Oriole, they resort to the open roads, gardens, and 

 orchards, putting themselves under the protection of man, and repaying him 

 l)oth bv their sweet melodv and their usefulness in destroying insects. Thev 

 keep chietly in the trees and mrely descend to the ground, except to collect 

 materials for their nests. These are suspended from the end of a branch, 

 and are constructed of fibrous grasses, horse-hairs, strings, bits of rags, wou], 

 hempv'u fibres «)f jdants, etc. At times oidy a single material is used, such 

 as horse-hair. These nests are iieatlv and closelv interwoven in the form of 

 a deej) bag or ]turse, and are susi)ended by the eilges from the forks of a 

 branch, near its end. Tiiey have usually a dej>th of about four or five 

 inches, and a diameter of about three or three and a half. In most cases 

 they aie largely made of the flaxen fibres of wild hempen plants, and by 

 strings of this are firmly bound around the ends of the twigs to which 

 they are suspended. They are lined within with fine, soft vegetable down. 

 In some nests the inner bark of the silkweed largely predominates. 



Dr. Cooper states that the eggs of liullock's Oriole are, in number, from 

 four to six. lie describes them as bluish-white, with scattered, winding 

 streaks and hair-lines of black and reddish-brown near the lariier end, 

 measuring .98 by .00 of an inch. In the southern half of California they 

 are laid in the first or second week of May. At Santa Cruz, in 18GG, he did 

 not observe any of this species until April 3. 



Mr. Allen did not meet with this species in Western Kansa.s, and it is not 

 included in his list of birds observed by him near Fort Hays. At Ogden 

 and Salt Lake City, in Utah, which he reached the first of September, IJul- 

 lock's Oriole had already miirrated southward. 



In all the fertile portions of the country west of the ]>lains, Mr. IJidgway 

 found liuUock's Oriole — the western representative of the Baltimore — ex- 

 tremely abundant. In Mav, when the valley of the Truckee, near Pyramid 

 Lake, was visited, he observed great numbers feeding upon the buds of the 

 grease-wood, in company with the Louisiana Tanager and the Black-headed 

 Grosbeaks. In certain localities there was scarcely a tree that did not con- 

 tain one or more nests of these birds, and as many as five have been found in 



