304 



OHIO EXPERIMENT STATION. 



in constructing its nest on one of the outer branches of a large wild cherry tree 

 (Prunus serotina'}, which stood in a thicket along a mill-race, adjacent to apple 

 orchards and a farm-house. A female Orchard Oriole quietly occupied a neighbor- 

 ing tree until the Vireo, after bringing material to its nest and satisfactorily arranging 

 the same, should depart ; when she too visited the nest and bore away in her bill such 

 of the material as she could easily detach, without doubt for the construction of her 

 own nest. This theft was a number of times repeated, always in the same sly manner ; 

 but the Vireo finally discovered that something was wrong, and with the assistance of 

 its mate, ended by driving the Oriole off the scene. 



The Orchard Oriole has been heard singing as late as August 28 (1890), which 

 date is also the latest fall record for the occurrence of the species. 



SUBGENUS YPHANTES VIEILLOT. 



104. Icterus galbula (LINN.). 

 Baltimore Oriole. 



An abundant summer resident. Its arrival during the four years of the writer's 

 observations has been between April 28 and May 5, inclusive. It has not been noted 

 later than September 18 (1892), when one was heard singing in Wooster. 



The nesting season is in May and the early part of June. Ordinarily full comple- 

 ments of fresh eggs are to be obtained within a few days of the first of June, though 

 some nests may contain young at this time. An exception was noted in 1891, when 

 all the nests examined between May 28 and June 4 contained either callow young 

 or heavily incubated eggs. Four or five eggs is the usual number, though a nest 

 occupied by only three young is occasionally noticed. With regard to the loca- 

 tion of the nest, a preference seems to be evinced for trees in the immediate vicinity 

 of running water, but in the absence of such, orchards or ornamental trees are with 

 equal readiness utilized. The nest is very often placed in an elm ( Ulmus Americana}, 

 where it is not infrequently in a practically inaccessible position at the extremity of a 

 long drooping branch, fifty or seventy-five feet from the ground. Of other native 

 trees, the buckeye < ^Esculus glabra}, the sycamore (Platanus cccidentalis) and maple 

 (Acer rubrum} seem to be most frequently chosen. 



The measurements of six nests are as follows : 



