I remember once sitting in the edge of a woods, watching the movements of some 

 Wrens, just outside, the only sounds to be heard in the woods being the discordant 

 notes of the Rio Grande Jay, when suddenly, from over my head, there burst upon my 

 ear a melody so sweet and enchanting that I sat entranced, and, listening, forgot all 

 else. I soon discovered the whereabouts of the singer, and watching him as he flitted 

 about from branch to branch, singing his wonderful song. I have no power to describe 

 a bird's song, least of all this Oriole's." 



These observations were made in spring 1878 at Hidalgo, Texas. In the following 

 year we find Mr. Sennett at Lomita, seven miles .above Hidalgo. "This year," he writes, 

 "I was fortunate in obtaining, within our limits, nests and eggs of this large Oriole. . . . 

 Three nests were found in heavy timber, some ten or twelve feet from the ground ; they 

 are half-pensile, somewhat like those of the Orchard and Bullock's Orioles, and attached 

 to upright terminal branches. They are composed of dried grasses woven among the 

 growing twigs and leaves, so as to form a matting light and firm. They measure on 

 the inside some three inches in depth and rather more in width. 



"The eggs are peculiar, resembling those of no other species found in that region. 

 The ground-color is white, covered with fine flecks of brown, giving the egg the appear- 

 ance of being covered with dust. Over these flecks, and principally at the larger end, 

 are irregular stains and splashes of deeper brown, sometimes mixed with lilac, on which 

 are coarse brown or black hieroglyphics." 



Dr. J. C. Merrill, Surgeon of the U. S. Army, found Audubon's Oriole a resident 

 throughout the year near Brownsville, Texas. "This fine Oriole," he writes, "is found 

 in moderate abundance, and is the only species that is resident. During the summer 

 months it is usually found in deep woods at some distance from houses, but during the 

 winter it is less shy and retiring. They are fi"equently captured and offered for sale by 

 Mexicans in this vicinity, but several I have kept would not sing at all in captivity. 

 When free, their usual song is a prolonged and repeated whistle of extraordinary mellow- 

 ness and sweetness, each note varying in pitch firom the preceding. If once heard, it can 

 never be forgotten." 



Mr. Sennett reports the proportions of the occurrence of the Orioles at Lomita, 

 Texas, as follows: Twenty Hooded Orioles, twelve Orchard Orioles, five Bullock's 

 Orioles, to three Audubon's Orioles. 



NAMES: Audubon's Oriole, Black-headed Oriole. 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: ICTERUS AUDUBONII Giraud (1841). Icterus melanocepbalua Hahn & Kiister. 

 Icterus melanocephalus audubonii B. B. & R. (1875). 



DESCRIPTION: Above, yellow, slightly tinged with olive; whole head and neck, wings and tail, black; 

 greater wing-coverts and secondaries, sometimes with narrow white edgings ; lesser wing-coverts, 

 bright yellow; below, throat and middle of breast, black; abdomen, yfeUow like the back, but rather 

 brighter.— Length, 9.25 inches; wing, 4.00; tail, 4.65 inches. 



