ISSUED' IN BEHALF OF THE SCIENCE' VhICH IT ADVOCATES 



Volume II, 



;/■ 



OCTOBER, 



Number 8. 



Nesting of the Hooded Oriole in 

 Cooke County, Texas. 



jURING the season of '76, I secured 

 four uests and complete sets of the 

 Hooded Oriole, each nest containing 

 five eggs. The eggs of set nurrtber one av- 

 erage .79 by .58^ inch, and the nest was 

 placed at the extremity of a branch in a 

 large red oak, fifteen feet high. The nest 

 w as placed above the crotch of sevefal twigs, 

 so that its sides impinged upon the twigs, 

 and to those twigs it was fastened by a long, 

 tough grass Wjhich grows in flat or wet prair- 

 ies, and is called here "wire grass. The 

 nest is composed almost wholly of this long 

 grass, and as it is placed in a clufeip of 

 leaves, and remains green for several a&,ys, 

 the nest is hard to discover. The outside 

 diameter is 4 inches, inside (at top) ^'-fn- 

 ches ; depth, outside 4 inches, inside 2i4n- 

 ches. The eggs are of a pale blui^ ground, 

 with a wreath of dark brown blotqips abolit 

 the large end, somewhat resembling the eggs 

 of the Crow Blackbird {Q. v^r^icolot-) . 

 This nest is lined with feathers. » 



The second nest was suspended from the 

 extremity of a post oak limb, seven feet high, 

 and measures 3i inches outside and 2i in- 

 side, in diameter ; depth, outside 3i inch- 

 es, ipsidf .2i. It is lined, with wool and cot- 



ton, not a ^in^Ie feather being visible. The 

 eggs average .83 by .58 inch. 



The third nest was attached to the end of 

 a poison vine, over a stream of water, and 

 is lined entirely with cotton. Average size 

 of eggs, .79| by .55^ inch. 

 • The last nest was placed in a position 

 similar to that of the first, in the twigs of 

 a cherry tree, twenty feet above the ground, 

 and measures a fraction larger. The eggs 

 measure .78 by .55| inch. The nest differs 

 from the others in having no lining except 

 the grass with which it is built. 



I have seen no record of this Oriole nest- 

 ing north of the Rio Grande, or even being 

 ■een this far north. Cooke Comity is loca- 

 ted at the head ot the Trinity River,' five- 

 himdred miles north of the mouth of the Rio 

 Grande. 



The first nest was taken May 24th. and 

 the last June 3d. The habits of this bird 

 are the same as those of the Texas variety 

 of the Orchard Oriole. 

 Gainesville^ Oct. 27. G. H. Ragsdale, 



That the translucent membrane lining 

 the inside of an egg-shell amalgamates^,,; in 

 a perceptible degree, with the siibstance of 

 the shell, is demonstrated by the fact that 

 eggs are frequently found with but a half- 

 formed shell, the remaining portion being 

 covered with a membraneous skin, aad^ 



