280 BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



body doubtless emigrate to the south, since they are found at 

 that season in the Floridas, in great numbers, and some retire 

 beyond the limits of the Union. 



In the pairing time, these birds select a tuft in the field or 

 meadow, and there construct their nest with coarse grass, with 

 a lining of the same material. It is in the form of an oven, 

 and is ingeniously concealed by matting together the blades 

 that surround it. It is also provided with a retired avenue, 

 through which only one at a time can enter. The eggs are 

 white, blotched, and sprinkled with reddish brown. These 

 birds are very kind and friendly to each other. While the 

 female sits, the male provides her with food and watches over 

 her retreat. When the young are hatched, toward the end 

 of June, they both guard and provide for them with affection- 

 ate care. The lark has few enemies excepting hawks and 

 snakes and young sportsmen. The farmer brings no charge 

 against him, and even children spare the nest and the young. 



The Baltimore Oriole, Icterus Baltimore, is perhaps the 

 most splendid of all our summer visiters, and is admired, both 

 for the richness of its plumage and the full-hearted sweetness 

 of its song. It is known by various names ; children call it 

 the gold-robin ; it is often called the hang-bird, from the pecu- 

 liar nest which it suspends from the tree, and some give it the 

 poetical name of fire-bird, from its glancing through the foliage 

 like a flame of fire. Most birds of this family remain in tropi- 

 cal climates, where they need an inaccessible nest to secure 

 them from serpents, monkeys, and other artful foes, and when 

 they come to us, they retain the same habit, though exposed to 

 no such dangers. They are not, however, without that pro- 

 phetic instinct which is so remarkable in many birds. When 

 they build in the south, they make their nest from the light 

 moss, which allows the air to pass freely through it, and, as if 

 aware of the heat which is to come, complete it without a 

 lining ; while in the cool and variable climate of New Eng- 

 land, they make their nests of soft substances, closely woven, 

 with a warm lining, and hang it in a place where it shall have 

 the early heat of the sun. 



