BALTIMORE ORIOLE, OR GOLDEN ROBIN. 161 



and long continue to be assiduously fed and guarded by 

 their very affectionate and devoted parents. Unfortunately, 

 this contrivance of instinct to secure the airy nest from 

 the depredations of thieving and rapacious monkeys, and 

 other animals which frequent trees in warm or mild climates, 

 is, also, occasionally attended with serious accidents, when 

 the young escape before obtaining the perfect use of their 

 wings. They cling, however, with great tenacity, either to 

 the nest or neighbouring twigs ; yet sometimes they fall 

 to the ground ; and, if not killed on the spot, soon become 

 a prey to numerous enemies. On such occasions it is 

 painful to hear the plaints and wailing cries of the parents. 

 And when real danger offers, the generous and brilliant 

 male, though much the less querulous of the two, steps in 

 to save his brood at every hazard ; and I have known one so 

 bold in this hopeless defence, as to suffer himself to be 

 killed, by a near approach with a stick, rather than desert 

 the offspring, in whose existence and safety his life seem- 

 ed absorbed. Sometimes, after this misfortune, or when 

 the fell cat has devoured the helpless brood, day after day 

 the disconsolate parents continue to wail their irretrieva- 

 ble loss. They almost forget to eat amidst their distress, 

 and after leaving the unhappy neighbourhood of their 

 bereavement and fruitless toil, they still come, at inter- 

 vals, to visit and lament over the fatal spot, as if spell- 

 bound by despair. If the season be not too far advanced, 

 the loss of their eggs is generally soon repaired by con- 

 structing a second nest, in which, however, the eggs are 

 fewer. 



The true Oriole (O. galhula), "which, migrates into 

 Africa, and passes the breeding season in the centre of 

 Europe, also makes a pendulous nest, and displays great 

 courage in the defence of its young, being so attached to 

 its progeny, that the female has been taken and conveyed 

 14* 



