166 



OMNIVOROUS BIRDS. 



than their mates. They appear to affect the elevated and 

 airy regions of the Alleghany mountains, where they are 

 much more numerous than the Baltimore. 



The Orchard Oriole is an exceedingly active, sprightly, 

 and restless bird ; in the same instant almost, he is on 

 the ground after some fallen insect, fluttering amidst the 

 foliage of the trees, prying and springing after his lurking 

 prey, or flying, and tuning his lively notes, in a manner 

 so hurried, rapid, and seemingly confused, that the ear is 

 scarce able to thread out the shrill and lively syllables of 

 his agitated ditty. Between these hurried attempts, he also 

 gives others, which are distinct and agreeable ; but still, his 

 tones are neither so full nor so mellow as those of the brill- 

 iant and gay Baltimore. In choosing the situation of his 

 nest he is equally familiar with that bird, and seems to enjoy 

 the general society of his species, suspending his most in- 

 genious and pensile fabric from the bending twig of the 

 apple-tree, which, like the nest of the other, is constructed 

 in the form of a pouch from 3 to 5 inches in depth, ac- 

 cording to the strength or flexibility of the tree on which he 

 labors ; so that in a weeping-willow, according to Wilson, 

 the nest is one or two inches deeper, than if in an apple- 

 tree, to obviate the danger of throwing out the eggs and 

 young by the sweep of the long, pendulous branches. 

 It is, likewise, slighter, as the crowding leaves of that 

 tree afford a natural shelter of considerable thickness. 

 That economy of this kind should be studied by the 

 Orchard Oriole, will scarcely surprise so much, as the 

 laborious ingenuity, and beautiful tissue of its nest. It 

 is made exteriorly of a fine woven mat of long, tough, and 

 flexible grass, as if darned with a needle. The form is 

 hemispherical, and the inside is lined with downy sub- 

 stances ; sometimes the wool of the seeds of the Button- 

 wood, forming thus a commodious and soft bed for the 



