Читать книгу Birds and Nature, Vol. 10 No. 1 [June 1901] - Various - Страница 2

Bullock’s Oriole, a species as handsome and conspicuous as the Baltimore Oriole, replaces it in the western portions of the United States and is likewise widely distributed. Its breeding range within our borders corresponds to its distribution. It is only a summer resident with us, arriving usually from its winter haunts in Mexico during the last half of March and, moving slowly northward, reaches the more northern parts of its breeding range from a month to six weeks later. It appears to be much rarer in the immediate vicinity of the seacoast than in the Great Basin regions, where it is common nearly everywhere, especially if sufficient water is found to support a few stunted cottonwoods and willows. During my extensive wanderings through nearly all the states west of the Rocky Mountains and extending from the Mexican to the British borders, I have met with this species almost everywhere in the lowlands and in some localities have found it very abundant. Like the Baltimore Oriole, it avoids densely wooded regions and the higher mountains. It is especially abundant in the rolling prairie country traversed here and there by small streams having their sources in some of the many minor mountain ranges which are such prominent features of the landscape in portions of Idaho, Washington and Oregon. These streams are fringed with groves of cottonwood, mixed with birch, willow and alder bushes, which are the favorite resorts of this Oriole during the breeding season. The immediate vicinity of water is, however, not considered absolutely necessary, as I have found it nesting fully a mile or more away from it on hillsides, the edges of table-lands and in isolated trees, or even in bushes. In Colorado it is said to be found at altitudes of over eight thousand feet, but as a rule it prefers much lower elevations.

The call notes of Bullock’s Oriole are very similar to those of the Baltimore, but its song is neither as pleasing to the ear nor as clear and melodious as that of the latter. Its food is similar and consists principally of insects and a few wild berries.

The nest resembles that of the Baltimore Oriole, but as a rule it is not quite as pensile and many are more or less securely fastened by the sides as well as by the rim to some of the adjoining twigs. The general make-up is similar. As many of the sections where Bullock’s Oriole breeds are still rather sparsely settled, less twine and such other material as may be picked up about human habitations enter into its composition. Shreds of wild flax and other fiber-bearing plants and the inner bark of the juniper and willow are more extensively utilized; these with horsehair and the down of plants, wool and fine moss furnish the inner lining of the nests. According to my observations, the birch, alder, cottonwood, eucalyptus, willow, sycamore, oak, pine and juniper furnish the favorite nesting sites; and in Southern Arizona and Western Texas it builds frequently in bunches of mistletoe growing on cottonwood and mesquite trees.

The nests are usually placed in low situation, from six to fifteen feet from the ground, but occasionally one is found fully fifty feet up. A very handsome nest, now before me, is placed among six twigs of mistletoe, several of these being incorporated in the sides of the nest, which is woven entirely of horsehair and white cotton thread, making a very pretty combination. The bottom of the nest is lined with wool.

The sexes are extremely devoted to each other and valiantly defend their eggs and young. I once saw a pair vigorously attack a Richardson’s squirrel, which evidently was intent on mischief, and drive it out of the tree in which they had their nest. Both birds acted with the greatest courage and dashed at it repeatedly with fury, the squirrel beating a hasty retreat from the combined attack. The young are large enough to leave the nest in about two weeks and are diligently guarded and cared for by both parents until able to provide for themselves.

Charles Bendire.

From “Life Histories of North American Birds.”