BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES 



(505) Icterus cucullatus sen= 

 netti Ridgway 



(Lat., wearing a cowl or hood). 



HOODED ORIOLE; SEN- 



NETT'S ORIOLE. Ad. & — As 

 shown by the middle bird. Plumage 

 an intense orange; face, throat, mid- 

 dle of back and tail black. In winter 

 the plumage resembles that of the 9 , 

 which is shown above. Young cf's 

 arc hke the 9 during the first 

 plumage; the next year the}' have 

 black throats, as shown by the lower 

 bird. L., S.oo; W., 3.50; T., 4.00, 

 rounded. Nest — Usually in clusters 

 of hanging moss; made by turning 

 up and matting the ends, or of fibres 

 in other trees. 



Range — Lower Rio Grande Val- 

 ley in southern Tex. Winters in 

 southern Mexico. 



ORIOLES are gaudily plumaged birds, of which only 

 two species are common in eastern United States. They 

 have short but clear and melodious songs, and build nests 

 that are usually quite unique in character. 



AUDUBON'S ORIOLE and SCOTT'S ORIOLE are 

 found only on our southwestern border, chiefly in southern 

 Texas. The former makes a basket-nest of green wiry 

 grasses, suspended six to fifteen feet up in mesquite trees, 

 usually in thickets. The latter attach their nests, which 

 are made of fibres and green grasses, to the leaves of various 

 species of tree yuccas, and in moss hanging from cacti. 



HOODED ORIOLES, also found on our southwestern 

 border, most abundantly in southern Texas, are more 

 common within our range than either of the preceding. 

 Their nests are usually constructed in bunches of moss 

 hanging from mesquite trees, and are made by hollowing 

 out and matting together the moss. Sometimes they are 

 in yuccas or in the leafy tops of bushes, in which cases 

 they are made chiefly of fibres and grasses. These orioles 



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