Mar. 1903 I 
THE CONDOR 
41 
small leaf-twig. There are no other supports whatever. This was taken from a 
sycamore at an elevation of almost twenty feet and was near the end of a some- 
what drooping branch where it was well hidden by the large leaves. This also 
has wild oats for its chief material, the stems being woven closely into the nest itself 
leaving the heads to stand out fora couple of inches all around. Inside them is grass 
and quite a little willow cotton at the bottom and a few horse hairs woven in. In 
its dimensions it is also unusual: depth, outside, 4 inches, inside 3; diameter out- 
side, 5, inside, 3; circumference, 13. This nest is so radicall}^ different from the 
ordinary nest of the species that one cannot help wondering what spirit of retro- 
gression (one might say) possessed its little builders. 
The third nest is of the semi-pensile type, but shows a skill in its manufac- 
ture that places its builders as far ahead of the ordinary semi-pensile architects as 
are the weavers of the truly pensile type. When first seen by me at the top of a 
small willow sapling I took it to be a swarm of bees and regretted that my collect- 
ing outfit did not contain suitable apparatus for gathering them in, for I do not 
like to have the little busy bee waste its sweetness on the desert air and in hollow 
trees if I can very well prevent it and besides hollow trees are much better 
adapted to screecli owls. The resemblance to a swarm was very great and I was 
within thirty feet of it before a female oriole flying from the nest showed me myerror. 
It was placed between the two branches of a nearly upright fork in the very top 
of a small clump of willows, about twelve feet from the ground. One small 
branch was completely buried in the nest for nearly its whole length, the other 
secured to it at the top, a little above and a little below the middle and lying 
close against the nest all the way. The top is rather flaring, being built out to 
the numerous leaf-twigs, many of which with their leaves are worked in on the 
top and back. The material used in its construction is wholly shreds of dry 
grass and of the bark of weed stems, the general color effect being very dark 
throughout. There are a few pieces of the stems on the outside with the bark par- 
tially detached and woven in, the stems hanging loose. For scientific weaving 
this nest is a marvel and resembles fine crochet work more than anything. The 
average nest of the Bullock oriole will have bits of string and plenty of horse 
hair woven in to bind and strengthen it, but this has nothing of the sort. I can 
not find even one piece of horse hair in the whole nest, nothing but fine and ap- 
parently short shreds of grasses and weeds. Holding it before a light one can 
plainly see the longer foundation lines running through and the marvelous way 
in which it is all worked together. All the length of the nest the sides are thin 
and of the same delicate workmanship, the bottom is harder and thicker, but the 
same material is used throughout. The builders of this nest were the most won- 
derfully skilled workers of their species that I ever saw and were doubtless old 
and experienced; no novices could ever have constructed such a nest. The photo- 
graph, while showing well the remarkable shape and .size fails to give a perfect 
idea of the fine weaving and material, that only an examination of the nest itself 
can do. 
For comparison I have included in a photograph the nest of another pair of 
orioles that can fairly be called an average nest, both for .size, manner of con- 
struction and materials and also attachment to the branch. The measurements of 
both nests are here given: depth inside, nest 3, 9 inches; average nest 4)4 inches; 
depth outside, nest 3, 9)4 inches; average nest 6 inches; diameterinside nest 3, 3^ 
inches; average nest 3 inches; diameter outside, nest 3, 4 inches; average nest, 3)4 
inches; greatest circumference, nest 3, 12 inches; average nest, 12 inches. In 
