ICTEKID.E — Tin: ORIOLES. 901 



ii siiiul(* tr«M-. Alt'i.iiijjh roiistnicttMl in ji luaiincr ahiK-st ]»ivciscly siinilar to 

 those of the common casteiii sperics, its nest is U'ss iVtMjucmly ju'iitluhms, 

 heiiiLj; in niany rases Hxo«l between the npiiuht twius near tiie top nf the tree. 

 It is, however, not unfretiuently siis]>en(hMl, like that ol" the lialtimore, trom 

 the extremity of a droojtint^ l»raneh. lliouj/li very rarely in so heantiful 

 a manner. Tlie notes of this Oriole, .vhieh are similar to those of the 

 l>iltimore, are neither st) Jistinet, so mello\. !ior .so strong', and tneir effect 

 is <inite ditferent from that j>rodueed hy tlie s]»l('ndid m«'llow wliistlin^ of 

 the eastern s]>eeies ; and the mellow, rolling eliatter S(» eharaeteristie of tlie 

 latter is not so full in the Mestern si>ecies, and generally ends in a sliarji 

 vhon\ much like the curious mewing of an Lt( ria. He regards r.ulloek's 

 Oriole as altoiiether a less attractive si>eeies. 



^Ir. Lord found this l»ird hy no means an ahundant sj>eeies in r>ritish 

 Columhia. Tliose that were seen seemed to prefer the lt»ealitie.^ where the 

 seruh-oaks grew, to the i)ine regions. He found their long, pendulous nests 

 suspended Irom points of oak branches, witliout any atti'mpt at concealment. 

 He never met wiili any of these hirds north of Fraser's lliver, and verv 

 rarely ea.st of the Cascades. A few stragglers visited his quarters tit Oolville, 

 arriving late in May and leaving early in Septeml^er, the males usually pre- 

 ceding the females three or four d.iys. 



On the Shasta Plains Mr. Lord noticed, in the nesting of this bird, a 

 sini^ular instance of the readiness with which birds alter tlieir habits under 

 dithculties. A solitary oak stood by a little patch of water, both removed 

 by many miles from other objects of the kind. J>ery available bran('h and 

 spray of this tree had one of the woven nests of this l>rilliant bird hanging 

 from it, though hardly known to colonize elsewhere in this manner. 



Dr. Cones, in an interesting paper on the habits of this species in the 

 Xaturalist for November, 1871, states that its nests, though liaving a treneral 

 resemblance in their style of architecture, differ gi-eatly from one another, 

 usually for obyi(»us reasons, such as their situation, the time taken for their 

 construction, and even the taste and skill of the builders. He describes one 

 nest, built in a ])ine-tree, in which, in a very ingenious maimer, these birds 

 bent down the long, straight, needle-like leaves of the still", terminal branch- 

 lets, and, tying their ends together, made them serve as the up])er portion 

 of the nest, and a means of attachment. This nest was nine inches lon-j 

 and lour in diameter. 



Another nest, described l)y the same writer, was suspended from the forked 

 twig of an oak, and draped with its leaves, almost to concealment. It had 

 an unusual peculiarity of being arched over and roofed in at the top, with a 

 dome of the same material as the rest of the nest, and a small round hole on 

 one side, just large enough to admit the birds. 



The eggs of this Oriole are slightly lai-ger th;m those of the Baltimore, and 

 their ground-color is more of a creamy-whit<', y«'t occasionally with a dis- 

 tinctly bluish thige. They are marbled and marked with irregular lines and 



VOL. n. , 2G 



r^ROVKsCIAL IJ3KARY 

 VICTORIA. B C 



