BIRDS OF THE UNITED STATES. 
15 
Plate IV. 
ICTERUS SPURIUS, Boj^aparte. 
Orchard Oriole. 
The Orchard Oriole is quite abundant throughout most of the 
United States, from the Atlantic to the Missouri Valley, and on the south- 
west to the valley of the Rio Grande. Individuals have been met with by 
Mr. J. A. Allen as far west as the base of the Rocky Mountains, in 
Colorado, the extreme limit of its western range. It is probable that it 
breeds throughout the entire area of its distribution — sparingly, however, in 
New England, according to eminent authority ; but quite freely in the 
Central States, from New York to South Carolina, and thence south-west 
to Texas. 
The period of its arrival in the United States from the genial clime 
of Guatemala, where it winters, has been fixed by Mr. Dresser, who has 
carefully studied its nesting-habits in Texas, as early as the first or second 
week of April. But, farther north, its presence is not observed before the 
last week of April, or the beginning of May. 
Unlike the Warblers and Thrushes, which prefer secluded localities, 
the subject of our sketch delights in cultivated grounds, particularly where 
the apple and the pear abound. Here it takes up its quarters, accom- 
plishes the object of its mission, and thence retires to its distant winter- 
home. Occasionally, a few individuals are to be found in waste grounds, 
dense thickets, or along the borders of woods, but such cases are excep- 
tional, and conditioned only by the close proximity of some time-honored 
orchard. 
Mating does not occur until the loth of May, more than two weeks 
after the advent of the sexes. But from the first, the male, who precedes 
