SCOTT'S ORIOLE. 271 



"There are many yuccas (Yucca baccata) in the canon and on the hill-side, none 

 of them exceeding ten feet in height, and it was in one of these, only a few feet from a 

 wood near where some one passed daily, and close to a 'tank' of water, that on May 

 24 I found the first nest. It was carefully concealed under the half dead and dry leaves 

 that hung downward close to the trunk of the plant. Two of the long pointed blades 

 had still been green enough to allow the pulp to be picked away, and the tough fibers 

 had then been frayed and used as a sort of starting point or foundation for the structure 

 which was thus 'sewed' — I know no more appropriate word — fast to the edges of the 

 leaf. I only caught a glimpse of the female and was not sure of the bird till later, when 

 both parents were identified to my satisfaction. 



"The nest contained three fresh eggs, though four is the usual number, as three 

 nests found during the next few days proved. These nests were all built in yuccas, none 

 were far from water, and, strangely, for a rather shy and suspicious bird, all were 

 within ten feet of the road. The last, that of May 30, to be spoken of in detail pre- 

 sently, was so near a much used trail, that the passer by might have touched it with 

 the hand. The following descriptions of the nests in detail are copied fronj my notes : 



"Nest of May 24. Built in a yucca, four feet from the ground. Sewed to the edges 

 of five dead leaves which, hanging down parallel to trunk of the plant, entirely concealed 

 the nest. Semi-pensile. Composed externally of fibers of the yucca and fine grasses. 

 Lined with soft grasses and threads of cotton-waste throughout. The walls are very 

 thin, at bottom not more than half an inch, and on the sides from one-eight to a quarter 

 of an inch thick. The whole nest was rather closely woven and very strong. Inside 

 depth, three and a half inches. Inside diameter, four inches. The whole cup-shaped. 

 Contains three fresh eggs ; bluish-white in color, with a cluster of chocolate-brown spots, 

 and others of lighter lilac-brown at the larger end, spotted yery sparsely all over, mainly 

 with a still lighter shade of the latter color, though a very few of these dispersed mark- 

 ings are also dark chocolate-brown. I have called this nest semi-pensile, as the edges 

 of the yucca leaves are not simply attached to the rim or top edge of the nest, but are 

 'sewed' to the sides of the structure — one blade for three inches, three for four inches, 

 and the other two for more than two inches and a half The nest is sewed to the 

 blades or leaves about seven inches from where they join the trunk of the plant, and 

 the blades are about twenty-two inches long. 



"Nest of May 27. Built in yucca, about four feet from ground. Nest sewed to the 

 edges of three leaves, all on one side of the structure and close together, being about 

 three-quarters of an inch apart. Other leaves project downward at an angle of about 

 45°, and the nest rests on them, as it would on the slanting roof of a house. It is 

 therefore not at all pensile. Is built of grasses, yucca fiber, and has cotton twine woven 

 into its walls. Inside it is lined to within half an inch of the rim with small pieces of 

 cotton batting, some cotton twine, and a little very soft grass. It is sewed to the 

 edges of each of the three leaves it rests on for six inches. The walls on the sides are 

 an inch, and at the bottom an inch and a half thick. The general inside shape is oval, 

 the greatest diameter being four and the least three and a half inches. The greatest 

 depth inside is three and a half inches. The walls on sides sewed to leaves are about 

 six inches in depth, and on the side rising from the leaves four inches. It contains four 



