BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC.: SCOTT ORIOLE 651 
1920, at north end of Animas Mountains; and it was also observed on the slopes 
of the mountains (Ligon).J Noted in the Sandia Mountains, 6,000 feet (Nelson, 
1891, pp. 237-238); Santa Rosa (Bailey); Anton Chico (Ligon); and east to Mon- 
tova, Carlsbad, and Guadalupe Mountains (Bailey). In the Guadalupes it was 
seen from 5,500 to 6,800 feet, and a nest was found at the higher elevation, while 
old birds were noted feeding grown young on July 27, 1901, at Carlsbad. [It was 
found breeding rather commonly in the yuccas of the Jornada from Las Cruces to 
Engle along the west slope of the San Andres Mountains (Ligon, 1916-1918).] 
Thus it breeds from 3,500 to 6,800 feet, but most commonly between 5,000 and 
6,000 feet. 
It leaves the State during the winter and returns in April; the first were seen 
at Carrizallilo Mountains, just south of the boundary, April 18,1892 (Mearns); at 
Apache, April 26, 1886 (Anthony); and at Carlisle, April 22, 1890 (Barrell).— 
W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —Pendant, woven largely of palm and yucca fibers, and hung from yucca 
leaves; but also made of grasses and hung from branches of other low trees including 
junipers; sometimes built hidden in clumps of mistletoe;, occasionally lined with 
a few horse hairs. Eggs: Usually 3, pale blue, blotched, streaked, and spotted, 
chiefly about the larger end, with black, gray, or brown and purple. 
Food. —Mainly grasshoppers, small beetles, caterpillars, butterflies, larvae, and 
berries and fruits. 
General Habits. —The handsome Scott Oriole, with his strikingly 
contrasted lemon and black plumage, especially grateful to the eye in 
the dull-colored, midsummer landscape of the semi-desert regions, 
is one of the most attractive birds one meets there. It seems a strange 
place for an Oriole, but the flowers of the agave and tree yucca and 
many others assure him numerous insects, and bayonet leaves afford 
fiber for his hanging nest. In an open desert canyon back of the Pecos 
River near Carlsbad we found a family, the strongly marked father 
going about feeding a brood of grown, dingy greenish young. Singing 
at his work, he gave catches of a song surprisingly suggestive of that 
of a Meadowlark, with its richness and serenity. Another, in a juniper 
valley at the foot of the Staked Plains—a male which had not reached 
the full, adult plumage—was going about with his mate trolling over 
a jerky phrase with marked emphasis, suggesting aju -niper val-ley, 
a ju-niper val'-ley. He also sang a real Oriole song, however, which 
sounded strangely from one in his youthful habiliments. 
In the Huachuca Mountains, Arizona, where Mr. Swarth found the 
Scott an abundant summer resident, he found young males in every 
stage of plumage, from those absolutely indistinguishable from some 
females up to the fully mature male, and he inferred that at least 
two years must be required to reach the perfect plumage. In the 
spring migration, he found, the old, bright plumaged males came 
first, followed by the females and later still by the immature males. 
The Scott was the commonest Oriole about the Carlsbad Cave when 
Mr. Bailey was there, and its loud rich song “was frequently heard 
