472 LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



in 1856, and is labeled simply "Pecos." From my knowledge of the country 

 (having been in New Mexico at the time) I am satisfied that it really came from 

 near the head waters of the Pecos River, in central New Mexico, and in all 

 probability from the vicinity of the place where this species has since been taken 

 by Mr. Nelson, and not from the lower Pecos, in western Texas, as has been 

 supposed. 



Scott's Oriole is only a summer resident with us, arriving usually along our 

 southern border about the last half of March or during the first week in April, 

 and moving slowly northward to its breeding grounds. 



Mr. F. Stephens writes: "In Arizona this sjoecies seems to be a rather rare 

 summer resident of the foothills and lower part of the mountains, breeding 

 up to the lower edge of the pines, but in migrating it passes well up into these. 

 In Arizona I have seen it nest in the yucca, sycamore, oak, and pine trees; one 

 nest found in an oak was not even semipensile, being supported at- the sides and 

 below by the upright branches between which it was placed. June and July 

 appear to be the principal breeding months. In California Scott's Oriole is a 

 rather rare summer resident of the deserts, principally the borders of the Mohave 

 Desert. I found an old nest in a palm tree on the border of the Colorado Desert 

 that I believe to have been built by this species. In the spring migration a 

 few birds wander into the mountains, and occasionally they cross over the divide 

 into the drainage toward the Pacific. In California the migration commences 

 near the end of March, when this bird may be found in the foothills bordering 

 the Colorado Desert. It is shy and restless; its song is clear, loud, and, to my 

 ear, very musical; its greatest defect is its briefness, being about the shortest 

 Oriole song I know." 



Mr. A. W. Anthony, in a letter dated July 8, 1894, says: "Icterus parisoratn 

 was often seen about my camp south of San Quentin, Lower California, and 

 it is rather common at the Mission of San Fernando. I shot one just below the 

 United States boundary, and saw several others within 3 or 4 miles of the line, 

 thus practically adding it to the list of San Diego County west of the range." 



Personally I first met with Scott's Oriole in the spring of 1872, and found 

 it rather rare in the foothills along the southwestern slopes of the Santa Catalina 

 Mountains, in the vicinity of my camp on Rillito Creek, near Tucson, Arizona. 

 In 1884 Mr. W. E. D. Scott was more fortunate and found this Oriole fairly 

 common on the opposite slopes of the same mountains, some 50 miles northeast 

 from where I had been located in 1872. He published a very interesting account 

 of the breeding habits of this bird in "The Auk" (Vol. II, 1885, pp. 1-7), to 

 which I refer readers for further information. In this vicinity he met with it at 

 altitudes of from 3,000 to 8,000 feet. 



Mr. Scott says: "Few birds sing more incessantly, and, in fact, I do not 

 recall a species in the Eastern and Middle States that is to be heard so frequently. 

 The males are, of course, the chief performers, but now and again, near a nest, 

 while watching the birds, I would detect a female singing the same glad song, 

 only more softly. At the earliest daybreak and all day long, even when the 



