BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. 
297 
edged with yellowish. Adult female: under parts plain canary yellow; 
upper parts olive green, grayish brown across back ; wings brownish, with 
white bars and edgings. Male in second year: like adult female, but lores and 
throat black. The rest of the black and the chestnut appear in increasingly 
large patches till the adult plumage is reached. Young in frst plumage: 
similar to female, but lighter wing markings tipped with buff. Male: length 
(skins) 5.80-6.50, wing 2.91-3.25, tail 2.50-2.95, bill .59-.69. Female: 
length (skins) 5.90-6.30, wing 2.70-3.05, tail 2.50-2.90, bill .60-.68. 
Distribution. — Breeds in Upper and Lower Sonoran zones from the east¬ 
ern United States, west to the Rocky Mountains, and Texas; migrates to 
Cuba and South America. 
Nest. — Basket-like, sometimes pensile, woven of fresh grass and placed 
in bushes or trees usually 12 to 20 feet from the ground. Eggs: usually 4 
to 6, bluish white, marked most heavily about the larger end with blotches 
and scrawls of browns and purples. 
Food. — Mainly small beetles, plant lice, flies, hairless caterpillars, cab¬ 
bage worms, grasshoppers, rose bugs, and larvae. 
In the prairie states, Major Bendire says, the orchard oriole is 
found mainly in trees and shrubbery along streams. When living in 
orchards and gardens it makes itself most useful by destroying the 
insects with which the fruit and vegetable grower have to contend. 
Subgenus Yphantes. 
507. Icterus galbula (Linn.). Baltimore Oriole. 
Adult male in spring and summer. — Under parts and hinder part of 
back bright orange or orange red; head, neck, and fore parts of back black ; 
wings with yellow shoulder patch and 
white wing bar ; tail black with 
yellow corners. Adult male in winter: 
like summer male, but scapulars and ; 
interscapulars edged with dull orange; fff' 
orange of rump and upper tail coverts 
more or less obscured with olive; 
white wing edgings broader. Adult 
female in summer: under parts orange 
or brownish yellow, varying from 
almost unmarked to the black color 
pattern of male in duller, less uni¬ 
form style; upper parts yellowish 
olive, streaked more or less with 
black, if not with solid black of male; 
rump yellowish, tail greenish yellow ; wings brownish, with whitish wing 
bars Adult female in winter: like summer female, but plumage softer and 
back tinged with gray. Immature male : varying between adult male and 
female or indistinguishable from female. Young in frst fall and winter: 
similar to adult females, which are without black on throat. Young, frst 
plumage: like lighter colored female but upper parts grayer and under 
parts with softer colors. Male : length (skins) 6.80-7.«), wing 3.604.02, 
tail 2 78-3.15, bill .69-.78. Female: length (skms) 6.20-6.70, wing 3.35- 
3.62, tail 2.60-2.83, bill .63-.71. , T , A . „ 
Distribution. — Breeds in Transition zone of eastern North America from 
latitude 55° in Saskatchewan to Texas, west to the Rocky Mountains; 
migrates through eastern Mexico to Panama. 
From Biological Survey, U. S. Dept, of 
Agricrulture. 
Fig. 364. 
