HOODED ORIOLE, 



Icterus cucullatus Swainson. 



^HE Hooded Oriole is one of the most beautiful and interesting of all the birds 

 of the lower Rio Grande region. It is common in all the wooded localities 

 as well as in orchards and near the habitations of man. How far it penetrates into 

 the interior of Texas I cannot say, but I have never found it near Houston or in 

 the region of Corpus Christi. Lieutenant Couch found it in the Mexican States of 

 Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, where it usually nested in tree-like yuccas. Dr. J. C. Merrill, 

 who observed it near Brownsville, Texas, gives the following interesting account: 



"This is perhaps the most common Oriole in this vicinity during the summer, 

 arriving about the last week in March. It is less familiar than Bullock's Oriole, and, 

 like the preceding species, is usually found in the woods. The nests of this bird found 

 here are perfectly characteristic, and cannot be confounded with those of any allied 

 species ; they are usually fo'und in one of the two following situations :. the first and 

 most frequent is in a bunch of hanging moss, usually at no great height from the 

 ground ; when so placed the nests are formed almost entirely by hollow^ing out and 

 matting the moss, with a few filaments of a dark hair-like moss as lining; the second 

 situation is in a bush (the name of which I do not know), growing to a height of 

 about six feet, a nearly bare stem throwing out two or three irregular masses of leaves 

 at the top ; these bunches of dark green leaves conceal the nest admirably ; it is con- 

 structed of filaments of the hair-like moss just referred to, with a little Spanish moss, 

 wool, or a few feathers for the lining; they are rather wide and shallow for Orioles' 

 nests, and, though strong, they appear thin and delicate. A few pairs built in Spanish 

 bayonets (yucca), growing on sand ridges in the salt prairies; here the nests are built 

 chiefly of the dry, tough fibers of the plant, with a little wool or thistle-down aS lining ; 

 they are placed among the dead and depressed leaves, two or three of which are used 

 as supports. The eggs .... can readily be distinguished from those of our other Orioles 

 by the absence of irregular blotches and pen-marks and by the white or very slightly 

 bluish ground-color. The markings are chiefly at the larger end in an irregular ring of 

 spots of varying shades of brown and lilac. Some sets are precisely like large Vireos' 

 eggs. The average size is .82 by .59, with comparatively little variation." 



"Very common in this vicinity (Hidalgo, Tex.)," writes Mr. Geo. B. Sennett, "and 

 among timber of any respectable growth. I found it more plentiful than all the rest of 

 the genus combined. Like all the Orioles, its colors vary greatly with age and season. 

 But even in its best plumage, I think it looks better at a little distance, when its 

 buttercup-colored hood contrasts well with its velvet-black mask. The birds are very 

 active, and so full of song that the woods are filled with their music iall day long. The 

 bills of these birds are more curved and pointed than the others, and admirably adapted 

 for weaving the hair-like moss. Their usual nesting places are the hanging trusses of 

 Spanish moss, everywhere provokingly abundant on the larger growth of trees. I have 

 also found their nests on the lower limbs of trees and the drooping outer branches of 



