518 LAND BIRDS 



foliage, flitting through the open only en route to a fresh 

 pasture. Restless, shy, ever on the move, searching for 

 caterpillars on the under sides of the leaves chickadee 

 fashion, picking in the crevices for larvse like a nut- 

 hatch, and snapping up grasshoppers with a little jump 

 as do young meadowlarks, he is usually to be- found 

 within twelve feet of the ground. 



His wooing is as ardent as the brilliant plumage would 

 typify. Rivals not a few he fights, and to the victor 

 belongs the spoil, whether she will or no. With song or 

 with harsh scolding note he wooes or threatens, giving 

 her no peace until his suit is accepted. Then both 

 gather material for the characteristic nest, which the 

 female weaves. It is hung on the under side of a fan- 

 palm leaf or in low trees or bushes, sometimes in a 

 bunch of mistletoe, sometimes in willow or gum trees, 

 and in one instance, at Monrovia, California, it was hung 

 to a banana leaf. In material used it differs radically 

 from all the other oriole nests in California, for instead 

 of gray or brown plant fibre, horsehair, string, shavings, 

 and other grotesque accessories, it is built of green grass 

 and the moss from the trees. It is sometimes stiffened 

 with yucca fibre, but the prevailing color is invariably 

 green, as in the nest of the orchard oriole ; hence it is 

 exceedingly difficult to discover among the green leaves. 

 By the time it has turned yellow the brood has flown. 

 Not so deep nor so pensile as that of the other Cali- 

 fornian varieties, it swings like a little basket from the 

 slender support, or is secured by upright twigs to which 

 its walls are fastened. In Texas the bird often hollows 



