April 1904] BIRDS OP THE HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA. ' 35 



nearly as dark as in the adult male. These are not new feathers, for all 

 the rectrices are equally worn and have the appearance of having been 

 acquired the previous fall. Another specimen is a step nearer the mature 

 plumage ; the black of the head and breast is more extensive and more 

 glossy ; the back is dull black, and the feathers of this par.t as well as 

 those of the nape and sides of the neck are edged with grayish and yel- 

 lowish so as to produce a somewhat mottled effect. The pattern of 

 coloration of the tail is exactly as in the adult male, but the colors much 

 duller; and the under parts and the rump are dull greenish yellow but 

 little brighter than the female. Still another is very nearly perfect ; the 

 wings and the tail have the bright, sharply denned colors of the adult, 

 the throat and breast are glossy black, and while the yellow of the lower 

 parts is not so bright as in my finest specimens, still it does not fall short 

 of it very much. The upper parts, however, are duller ; the head is black 

 but with very little gloss, while from the nape the feathers of the back 

 are broadly edged with olive-yellow and green. The rump, too, is dull 

 greenish yellow but little brighter than in some females. Mr. Brewster, 

 in his "Birds of the Cape Region of Lower California" dwells at some 

 length of this same intermediate plumage of the male of Icterus pari- 

 sorum, and seems to doubt the probability of its indicating immaturity ; 

 and though I have not the advantage of anything like as extensive a 

 series as was at his disposal (I have no fall specimens but have examined 

 in this connection thirty-five males taken by myself in the Huachuca 

 Mountains and near Tucson from March to July) I can not help think- 

 ing that this is the explanation of the variation. It is not a well defined 

 phase either of color or markings, for, as I have shown, there is a nicely 

 graded series of changes from a dull plumage similar to the female, up 

 to the brightest colored male. The fact that these dull colored males 

 arrive in the spring later even than the female would also indicate their 

 immaturity. The fact that they breed in this plumage is indisputable, 

 but I should imagine that to merely prove that more than a year is re- 

 quired to obtain the full plumage. Most of the male birds I secured have 

 more or less traces of grayish-white edgings to the feathers of the lower 

 back, the only one without any trace of these markings being a specimen 

 taken late in July, in very abraded plumage, and nearly ready to com- 

 mence the moult. About a third of the females secured have the throat 

 and upper breast, and sometimes the top of the head black, much as in 

 the more imperfect males ; one has a few scattered black spots on the 

 breast, and the remainder have no trace of black on these parts. 



The Scott Orioles seem to leave the Huachucas very soon after they 

 are through breeding ; I have taken none after July and though some mav 

 linger through August, I have no notes or recollections of seeing any 

 at this time. 



On May 25th, 1903, I secured a set of four fresh eggs near the mouth 

 of one of tl*e canyons, at an altitude of about 4500 feet. The nest was 

 built under the sharp, overhanging leaves of a yucca, about four feet 

 from the ground. 



Icterus cucullatus nelsoni Ridgway. Arizona Hooded Oriole. 



The Arizona Hooded Orioles hardly enter into the mountains at all, 

 except in the migrations, when I have occasionally seen a few half a mile 

 or so up the canyon ; but in the washes below they are quite abundant 

 throughout the summer. The earliest arrival noted was a male on April 

 4th, but they were not really abundant until after the middle of the 

 month. Two males secured are in the dull plumage of the female, with 



