NORTHWESTERN MEXICO. 279 



selected with great care as to its elasticity and strength ; sometimes narrow strips, of the palm-leaf, and 

 again I have seen some that were constructed of a slender and pliant kind of creeper, and, near the villages, 

 twine and thread are sometimes mixed with grass. Any long and slender substance of a tough nature is 

 selected by this ingenious weaver, to make secure its domicil against the storms of the Tropics. They are 

 often a yard in length, with the entrance near the top, which is rather small and nearly closed when the bird 

 is inside, and at the bottom of her pocket-shaped nest. A truly wonderful ingenuity is exhibited in the 

 mechanism of these bird ' homes.' Apparently they seem to be loosely put together, admitting the air to pass 

 fi-eely through them, not unlike a net hammock ; but any attempt to pull one of them apart, or detach it from 

 the twig to which it is bound, is not easily accomplished without the aid of a knife. 



" The building of this structure is pei-formed by the female alone ; the male only keeping watch whilst she 

 is engaged inside, or accompanying her in searching for building material. The eggs of this species, usually 

 five in number, are longer in shape than those of the other members of the Oriole family ; their markings, 

 however, are similar, the ground color being a pale blue, with numerous brownish-black spots and zigzag 

 marks, some of which resemble letters and hieroglyphics written with a bad pen." 



87. Icterus spurius var. affinis Lawr. 

 Mazatlan, Grayson ; Plains of Colima, Xantus. 



"Appears to be a winter visitant to this locality, although I procured both male and female in the latter 

 part of August, 1865, possibly the early comers. It is not very common at any season." 



88. Icterus cucullatus (Sw.). 



Mazatlan, Grayson ; Plains of Colima, Xantus. 



"I have noticed but two examples of this species, both of which I procured, shot from the same tree ; they 

 were feeding upon the fruit of the wild fig {Ficus americanus), in company with other orioles (Z pustulatus). 

 They are rare in this locality and new to me." 



89. Icterus wagleri Scl. 



" " Finsch, Abh. nat. Ver. zu Bremen, 1870, p. 338. 



Tepic, Guadalajara, Grayson. 



" In the large and beautiful garden and orchard attached to the spinning factory of Barron and Forbes in 

 Tepic, I first met with this rare and pretty species. Tliis lovely- retreat is called Jauja, and is indeed just 

 what its name implies, a garden of Paradise. It is situated on the banks of a clear running stream, that pro- 

 pels the machinery of the factory, a large enclosure to itselfj with the limpid waters sweeping around more 

 than one-half its length. 



" Everything that art and taste could suggest has here been exhibited in the admirable distribution of 

 nearly every kind of tropical fruit trees, as well as some of the northern ones; orange groves and mango, 

 with their dark evergreen foliage, forming the most delightful and shady bowers, perfumed with the fragrance 

 of innumerable native as well as exotic flowers, plantains, cofiee, — really a wilderness of plants, kept in 

 elegant order, among which gravelly walks lead in every direction ; all of which appears as an oasis amid 

 the thorny and scrubby brush peculiar to the surrounding country. A fit spot to attract the various species of 

 birds for many miles around. 



"In Jauja, where everything is Conducted in a quiet and systematic manner, birds are never molested, but 

 seem to form a part of the richly ornamented grounds in which they love to dwell ; and in this genial clime, 

 where frost and snows are unknown, they have no desire to leave it. Here they rear their young, and their 

 voices are heard in their varied songs, every month in the year. My first visit to this spot was in the month 

 of May (the commencement of the breeding season), when all the birds were in their finest song and feather. 

 Such a busy scene, and such a medley of song, I have seldom witnessed. It seemed as though all the vocal- 

 ists of the forest and field had collected here for a gi-and concert, a kind of national congress of musicians or 

 May-day festival, each endeavoring to outvie his neighbor. 



" This was the only locality in the vicinity of Tepic in which I found this oriole. I saw them feeding upon 

 the ripe cofiee berries, and probing the ripest oranges with their sharp bills and sucking the juice. There 



