682 BULLOCK’S ORIOLE. 
six inches deep and four broad, hanging to several sprays of the 
mistletoe, which were partly interwoven with the nest to form 
a graceful drapery. The felting material was long, soft, vegeta- 
ble fibre of a glistening silvery lustre, in artistic contrast with 
the dark-hued foliage. A few hairs were sewn through and 
_through, for greater security, and the pretty fabric was lined with 
a matting of the softest possible plant-down, like that of a button- 
wood or an Asclepias. 
The general shape and the material‘of the third nest were much 
the same as those of the last; it was, however, suspended from 
the forked twig of an oak, and draped almost to concealment with 
leaves. But it had a remarkable peculiarity, being arched over 
and roofed in at the top with a dome of the same material as the 
rest, and had a little round hole in one side just large enough to 
let the birds pass in. Such a globular nest as this is probably ex- 
ceptional ; but now it will not do to say that orioles always build 
pensile pouches open at the top. 
The eggs of this species are four or five in number, and rather 
elongated in form, being much pointed at the smaller end. They 
measure on an average just an inch in length, by about two-thirds 
as much in greatest diameter, which is much nearer the larger than 
the smaller end. In color they are very pale bluish, or rather 
whitish with a faint dull blue shade, and are everywhere irregu- 
larly overrun with fine sharp hair lines of blackish brown, or black- 
ish with a slight tinge of purplish. These curious zigzig markings ` 
are characteristic of the eggs of a majority of the birds of the 
family (Jcteride). They have no definite style, but wander | 
at random over the surface, and in no two specimens are they 
alike. Thus in one specimen the lines, fine as hairs, are wound 
round and round the butt, with such regularity that they hardly 
ever interfere; in others, they are snarled up in different places; 
and sometimes, particularly at a sharp turning-point, the lines 
spread into little spots; and there are often a few such isolated 
markings in various places over the egg.* 
We need say nothing of the general habits and manners of Bul- 
lock’s Oriole, for it does not differ from the well-known Baltimore 
bird in these respects. 
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*The nests and eggs above described were collected in California and are now in 
the Smithsonian Institution, where we have 1 g ly all 1 to examine the 
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T ae ey ES E A 
Pe O a EE T EE 
