Dr. Coues, in an interesting paper on the habits of this species in the Naturalist for November, 1871, states that its nests, though having a general resemblance in their style of architecture, differ greatly from one another, usually for obvious reasons, such as their situation, the time taken for their construction, and even the taste and skill of the builders. He describes one nest, built in a pine-tree, in which, in a very ingenious manner, these birds bent down the long, straight, needle-like leaves of the stiff, terminal branchlets, and, tying their ends together, made them serve as the upper portion of the nest, and a means of attachment. This nest was nine inches long and four in diameter. Another nest, described by the same writer, was suspended from the forked twig of an oak, and draped with its leaves, almost to concealment. It had an unusual peculiarity of being arched over and roofed in at the top, with a dome of the same material as the rest of the nest, and a small round hole on one side, just large enough to admit the birds. The eggs of this Oriole are slightly larger than those of the Baltimore, and their ground-color is more of a creamy-white, yet occasionally with a distinctly bluish tinge. They are marbled and marked with irregular lines and tracings of dark umber-brown, deepening almost into black, but never so deep as in the eggs of the eastern species. These marblings vary constantly and in a remarkable degree; in some they are almost entirely wanting. They measure .90 of an inch in length by .65 in breadth. SUBFAMILY QUISCALINÆ. [Line drawing: _Scolecophagus ferrugineus._ 16775] CHAR. Bill rather attenuated, as long as or longer than the head. The culmen curved, the tip much bent down. The cutting edges inflected so as to impart a somewhat tubular appearance to each mandible. The commissure sinuated. Tail longer than the wings, usually much graduated. Legs longer than the head, fitted for walking. Color of males entirely black with lustrous reflections. The bill of the _Quiscalinæ_ is very different from that of the other _Icteridæ_, and is readily recognized by the tendency to a rounding inward along the cutting edges, rendering the width in a cross section of the bill considerably less along the commissure than above or below. The culmen is more curved than in the _Agelainæ_. All the North American species have the iris white. The only genera in the United States are as follows:— Scolecophagus. Tail shorter than the wings; nearly even. Bill shorter than the head. Quiscalus. Tail longer than the wings; much graduated. Bill as long as or longer than the head. GENUS SCOLECOPHAGUS, SWAINSON. _Scolecophagus_, SWAINSON, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831. (Type, _Oriolus ferrugineus_, GMELIN.)