YELLOW OR ORANGE CONSPICUOUS 521 



more with such tenderness just at dawn when his mate 

 is on the nest. 



In nesting habits it resembles its Eastern relative, 

 weaving a pensile bag-like affair of wild flax and plant 

 fibre stiffened with horsehair and lined with plant down 

 and fine moss. This is a typical nest, but string, bits of 

 rag, and colored wool are often used also. The whole 

 is fastened securely around the rim to the finer twigs of 

 alder, eucalyptus, oak, juniper, or pepper. About San 

 Jos^, California, I have found it oftenest in pepper trees. 

 In Texas and elsewhere it is said to hang its cradle in the 

 bunches of mistletoe ; it may do this among the foot- 

 hills, also, but it does not choose this site by preference. 

 Most of the nests hang within fifteen feet of the ground, 

 but I have found them forty feet up from the base of a 

 tree on a steep slope. Although this species less fre- 

 quently use the nest a second season than do the Balti- 

 mores, they have a curious habit of building a second 

 close beside the first and often fastened to it. There is 

 no way of ascertaining whether or not it is the same pair 

 who come back to their favorite location and build this 

 addition to their old home, and in bird lore it is never safe 

 to hazard a guess. Never having seen a male oriole of 

 any species attempt to brood either the eggs or the 

 young, I am convinced that in every case the fourteen 

 days of incubation of this species is the task of the female 

 alone. Her mate is always within calling distance, keep- 

 ing a vigilant watch for squirrels, crows, and jays ; and 

 should any one of these enemies appear, not only he but 

 the mother bird, joined by all the orioles and blackbirds 



