BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 293 



THE HOODED ORIOLE* 



Only a very limited portion of the United States is 

 beautified by the presence of the bright-colored Hooded 

 Oriole. The North has the richly plumaged Baltimore 

 oriole for a short time each year, but only the far south- 

 eastern part of Texas is enlivened by this graceful, active 

 bird of our illustration, which is "so full of song that the 

 woods are filled with music all the day." Both of these 

 birds seem scarcely to belong to the North, where somber 

 colors seem more in harmony with a severer climate. 



The hooded oriole has a very narrow range, reaching 

 from Texas southward through eastern Mexico to Hon- 

 duras, and during our Northern winters it has the Balti- 

 more as an associate. It is a social bird and frequents the 

 home of man. One writer, relating his experiences with 

 this oriole, says : " They were continually appearing about 

 the thatched roof of our houses and the arbors adjoining 

 for insects; they were more familiar than any of the other 

 orioles about the ranch." 



It not only delights man by its song and beautiful 

 coloring, but its presence is also beneficial, for it destroys 

 countless adult insects and their larvae. 



The hooded oriole seldom builds its nest higher than 

 from six to twelve feet above the ground, though in a few 

 instances it has been found as high as thirty feet. Dr. James 

 C. Merrill, in his " Notes on the Ornithology of Texas," 

 says: "The nests of this bird found here are perfectly 

 characteristic, and cannot be confounded with those of any 



