SOME COSTA RICAN ORIOLES 



By Lee S. Crandall 



To the mind of the casual reader, the title of this 

 magazine suggests at once the familiar charmer of 

 roadside and orchard — the Baltimore Oriole. To 

 others, further advanced in knowledge of our native 

 birds, the Orchard Oriole, singer of wonderful songs, 

 may follow as an afterthought. But the fact that 

 our two native species are but a tithe of the members 

 of this beautiful and varied group would hardly occur 

 to one unversed in ornithology. 



Of the genus Icterus, which includes the Baltimore 

 and the Orchard, nearly fifty different forms have 

 been described, covering the American continents 

 from Canada to Argentina, Mexico alone having 

 more than twenty. All of these birds, with one or 

 two exceptions, beside the Orchard Oriole, are bril- 

 liantly black and orange in color. In captivity, all 

 are interesting pets, and for their melodious songs 

 and endearing manners, are greatly prized by the 

 natives whose country they adorn. 



Besides the true Orioles, the family Icteridae in- 

 cludes many other birds, of which the Bobolink and 

 Redwing are familiar examples. On a recent visit 

 to Costa Rica, the writer had an opportunity of 

 studying some of these species, and making many 

 observations concerning their life histories. 



On the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica there are 

 but two breeding species of Icterus — the Salvin and 

 Lesson Orioles, although both the Baltimore and the 

 Orchard winter there. Both of the former are found 



