160 



507. Baltimore Oriole, hang-nest, golden robin, fr. — l'oriole de Baltimore 

 Icterus galbula. L, 7-53. Plate XXVII B. 



Distinctions. Coloration. 



Field Marks. The striking flashes of golden orange and the rich contralto voice are 

 absolute identification marks. The species can only be confused with extralimital forms. 



Nesting. The nest of the Baltimore Oriole is one of the avian curiosities. It is in the 

 form of a bag woven of fibres, plant down, hairs, and string and hangs from the end of long 

 drooping branches. With her sharp, awl-like bill the female Oriole thrusts a fibre into the 

 side of the nest, then reaching over to the inside pulls it through, tugging to make all tight 

 and solid, another fibre is thrust in and the process repeated until when complete the nest 

 is so knitted, woven, and felted together that though tossed at the end of long flexible 

 whip-like branch tips through summer and winter storms, it remains intact for several 

 years. 



Distribution. Eastern North America north to the bounds of dense settlement. 



Open country with scattered groves and occasional large isolated elms 

 is the ideal habitat of the Baltimore Oriole. It obtains its name from its 

 brilliant orange and black livery, the colours of Lord Baltimore, under 

 whose patronage the state of Maryland was first settled and in Avhose 

 honour the bird was named by the early settlers. 



Economic Status. The food of the Oriole consists mostly of insects, 

 including, in order of numbers, caterpillars, click beetles, of which the 

 pestilent wire worms are the larvae, May beetles, and grasshoppers. Very 

 few predaceous beetles are taken. The amount of vegetable matter is 

 small. This species, therefore, ranks very high as an insect destroyer. 

 Complaints are sometimes made that the Oriole spoils fruit and it has been 

 accused of puncturing grapes for the juice. It is not the amount which 

 it takes that is objected to but the quantity of fruit that is spoiled, for it 

 goes from bunch to bunch puncturing many and consuming little. This, 

 however, seems to be a very local and perhaps an individual habit and 

 except in vine country is of comparatively small importance. In Canada, 

 the Baltimore Oriole leaves shortly after mid-August and before the autumn 

 fruit season is well advanced, so that grapes are usually too green to be 

 attractive to it. Hence, though it cannot be wholly exonerated from the 

 charges which have been made against it, the damage done by the Oriole 

 in Canada has certainly been greatly exaggerated. The good the bird 

 does is constant and important, the harm is occasional and slight. 



509. Rusty Blackbird, rusty grackle. fr. — le mainate couletjr de rouille. 

 Euphagus carolinus. L, 9-55. About the size of a Red-wing, but all black with green 

 reflections and with straw-coloured eyes. In the autumn the feathers are broadly edged 

 with rusty, lighter on the crown and head. The female is a nearly evenly dark grey bird 

 with traces of rusty marks in spring, much more extensive in both sexes in autumn when 

 they form a well-defined, reddish cap and a light eyebrow line. 



Distinctions. Small size compared with the Crow Blackbird, the only other comparable 

 species with light coloured eyes; even blackness or rusty overwash tending towards a light 

 line over the eye, and straw-coloured eye. 



Field Marks. Size, coloration, and straw-coloured eyes. 



Nesting. In coniferous trees or on ground, in nest of grasses or moss. 



Distribution. Eastern and northern North America; usually breeding just north of 

 the cultivated areas in Canada. 



The Rusty Blackbird visits us in great numbers spring and autumn, 

 joining and forming a considerable part of the large flocks of mixed Black- 

 birds that are seen about the fields and marshes. The name Grackle which 

 is commonly applied to the two yellow (nearly white) eyed Blackbirds 

 is doubtless derived from the sound of their harsh, crackling notes. 



