SCOTT'S ORIOLE, 



Icterus parisorum Bonaparte. 



Plate XXXI. Fig. 2. 



pHE BLACKBIRDS, Wood Warblers, Tyrant Flycatchers, Hummingbirds, Thrashers, 

 J Tanagers, and Trogons are birds characteristic to America, as they are not found 

 on any other continent. In the same sense the grotesque forms of the cacti, the very 

 ornamental yuccas, the agaves, dasylirions, nolinas, etc., are to be regarded as 

 characteristic American plants. These plants are found in great numbers and many 

 species in our dry regions of the South-west, especially in southern and south-western 

 Texas, southern Arizona and California, and all through Mexico. In these exceedingly 

 dry and barren regions they grow singly as well as in groups and masses, and where- 

 ever they are found they are very conspicuous features of the landscape. The most 

 beautiful of all these plants are the yuccas, or "palm lilies," as they are often called. 

 Their stiff leaves, which stand out in every direction, terminate into a very sharp point, 

 and, in allusion to this sharp, needle-like weapon, they have received quite a number of 

 popular names, such as "Adam's needles," "Spanish daggers," "Spanish bayonets," etc. 

 The most beautiful and imposing of all the yuccas is a tree-like species with immense 

 pendulous flower-stems. This is the palm yucca*, an abundant species of northern 

 Mexico. Another beautiful species is Trecul's yucca ^, which also attains tree-like pro- 

 portions. Of smaller growth are the very spiny common Spanish dagger", and the much 

 more graceful dragon yucca ^, the two last species occurring abundantly also in the 

 South Atlantic and Gulf States. 



In California and southern Arizona we find a number of other tree-like yuccas, not 

 to be met elsewhere. Among these I shall only make mention of the Arizona yucca*, 

 bearing edible fruit and comparatively short spiny leaves. Almost all the tree-like yuccas 

 have the old dry leaves hanging down on the stem for many years, and, though not 

 ornamental, they lend to the tree a very unique picturesqueness. This is especially true 

 of Yucca baccata, which shows always under the crown of green leaves, masses of dry 

 ones hanging down around the stem. Usually it grows in groups, and the dry hanging 

 leaves form excellent nesting sites for the beautiful Scott's Oriole, or Yucca Oriole, a 

 rather abundant bird, where these plants are common. : 



This exquisite bird is distributed from central Mexico northward to the s6uthern 

 border of the United States, occurring from Texas westward to southern California. 

 It is met with where tree-like yuccas grow abundantly. In Mexico, where it occurs in 

 the temperate as well as in the alpine mountain regions, it is called "Calandrina indio." 

 Xantus met with it at Cape St. Lucas, Lower California, and he discovered a nest 

 built in a bunch of moss hanging down from an old cactus; another was made in 

 a bunch of climbing plants, suspended fi-om a cactus. We are especially indebted to 

 Mr. W. E. D. Scott for his accurate and very interesting description of the home and 

 haunts and of the nesting habits of this beautiful' Oriole. Mr. Scott writes as follows ; 



1 Yucca etifera. J Y. Treculeaaa. s Y. aloifolia. * Y. dracoais. b Y, baccata. 



