196 NORTH AMKRICAN BlfJDS. 



suju'vciliary stripe, mostly concoiilod, linwovcr, Ity tlie black tips of the 

 fcatliers. The middle coverts, like the; lesser, are ])iiro plain oran,i,'e. 



A male from Cape May, X. J. (r)0,4r)8, ^lay), has the middle coverts white, 

 and the lesser wholly uniform l)lack. Tiie head, however, is as in tyi)ical 

 specimens. 



In a series of twenty adult s]iring males I'rom Carlisle, I'enn., seven have 

 the mid'He coverts more or less white. lUit it is noticed that all tliesc speci- 

 mens wilii white middle coverts have invariabl} less intense colors than 

 tiiose with orange .shoulders, while in the Kansas specimens the other colors 

 are of the brightest character. 



A male from Washington (12,:U7, ^lay G) is exactly similar. 



H.vrsirs. The familiar Baltimore Oriole, the tlolden Itobin of the New 

 England States, is found Mn-oughout eastern North America, at various sea- 

 sons, *Vom Texas to tlie Ih'itish Possessions, and i'rom the Atlantic to the 

 plains. It is, however, for the most jKUt, not common beyond the Missis- 

 sippi Jliver. It has been traced as far to the north as the Snth parallel 

 of latitude, and probal)ly breeds more or less abundantly in every State 

 east of the [Mississippi Itiver. It is rare in Florida, and is not given by 

 ]\rr. Allen as known to that State, but I have received its nest and eggs 

 from Monticello in West Florida. Tiie Smithsonian ^luseum embraces 

 specimens from as far west as Powder Itiver and the Yellowstone. 



^Ir. J. A. Allen (Am Naturalist, June, 1872) mentions finding this species 

 at the base of the llocky ^fountains, in Colorado, which he regards as its 

 extreme western limit. In Kansas he found this species, as well as the 

 Orcliard Oriole, abundant, the Paltimore indulging in a dialect so different 

 from that of its nortliern relatives as oiteii to puzzle him to make out to 

 wliat bird its strange notes belonged. Its colors were also unusually bright 

 in all tlie specimens he examined. 



]\Ir. P.oardman gives it as very rare at Calais, but Profes.sor Verrill tliinks 

 it common in Western Maine. It is abundant thnmghout the southern 

 and central portions of Vermont and New Hanii)s]iire, and in all New York. 

 It is a conunon summer resident at Hamilton, Ontario, where it arrives the 

 second week in ^lay. It was found on the plains of the Saskatchewan by 

 Captain Plakiston. 



Mr. Dresser states it to have been abundant at Matamoras, where it was 

 breeding, though he was too late for its eggs. He saw none at San Antonio, 

 but ]\' . II. Clark was more fortunate. Numbers of them, he states, Avere 

 seen iic.iing in the mes(iuite-trees on the prairies, at which time they 

 were veiy nuisical, having somctinu's as many as tlu'ce nests in the same 

 tree. These were all Iniilt of fine grass, among the top branches, and inter- 

 woven with tlie leaves. Dr. Woodhouse found it (juite common in the 

 Indian Territory and in lOastern Texas. Specimens of this species were 

 taken by Mr. James M. Leannan, at Panama, which is jiresumed to be the 

 most southern locality on record for this bird. 



