BALTIMORE ORIOLE, OR GOLDEN ROBIN, 157 



trees, (such as the elm, the pear, or apple-tree, wild- 

 cherry, weeping-willow, tulip-tree, or button-wood.) It 

 is begun by firmly fastening natural strings of the flax of 

 the silk-weed,* or swamp-holyhock, t or stout artificial 

 threads, round two or more forked twigs, corresponding 

 to the intended width and depth of the nest. With the 

 same materials, willow down, or any accidental ravellings, 

 strings, thread, sewing-silk, tow, or wool, that may be lying 

 near the neighbouring houses, or round the grafts of trees, 

 they interweave and fabricate a sort of coarse cloth into 

 the form intended ; towards the bottom of which they place 

 the real n€St, made chiefly of lint, wiry grass, horse and 

 cow hair, sometimes, in defect of hair, lining the interior 

 with a mixture of slender strips of smooth vine bark, and 

 rarely with a few feathers, the whole being of a con- 

 siderable thickness, and more or less attached to the ex- 

 ternal pouch. Over the top, the leaves, as they grow out, 

 form a verdant and agreeable canopy, defending the young 

 from the sun and rain. There is sometimes a considera- 

 ble difference in the manufacture of these nests, as well 

 as in the materials which enter into their composition. 

 Both sexes seem to be equally adepts at this sort of labor, 

 and I have seen the female alone perform the whole with- 

 out any assistance, and the male also complete this labo- 

 rious task nearly without the aid of his consort ; who, 

 however, in general, is the principal worker. I have ob- 

 served a nest made almost wholly of tow, which was laid 

 out for the convenience of a male bird ; who, with this aid, 

 completed his labor in a very short time, and frequently 

 sung in a very ludicrous manner, while his mouth was 

 loaded with a mass larger than his head. So eager are 

 they to obtain fibrous materials, that they will readily tug 



* Jisdepias species. \ Hibiscus palustris. 



14 



Jfl-: 



