192 NORTH AMKUICA.N BIRDS. 



not only very abundant, but very generally diffused. Hardly an orchard 

 or a garden of any size can be found without them. Tiiey seem to prefer 

 apple-trees for their abode, and for the construction of their nests. These 

 structures, though essentially different, are, in their style of architecture, 

 quite as curiously wrought and ingenious as those of the Baltimore. They 

 are suspended from small twigs, often at the very extremity of the branches. 

 In Pennsylvania they are usually formed externally of a peculiar kind of long, 

 tough, and flc'xiblc grass. Tliis material is woven through and through in a 

 very wonderful manner, and \\ith as much neatness and intricacy as if actu- 

 ally sewed with a needle. Tlioy are hemispherical in shape, open at the to])_ 

 and generally about four inciies in breadth and three deep. The cavity lias 

 a depth and a width of about two inches. 



Wilson states that, having had the curiosity to detach one of these fibres 

 of dried grass from the nest, he found it thirteen inches in length, and that, 

 in that distance, it had been hooked through and returned no less than thirty- 

 four times ! In this manner it was passed entirely around the nest. Tlie 

 nests are occasionally lined with wool or the down of seeds. The external 

 portions are strongly fastened to se\eral twigs, so that they may be blown 

 about by the wind without being upset. 



Wilson also remarks that he observed that when these nests are built in 

 the long pendent branches of the weeping-willow, wliere they are liable to 

 much greater motion, tliough formed of the same nuiterials, they are always 

 made much deeper and of slighter texture. He regards this as a mani- 

 festation of a remarkable intelligence, almost equivalent to reason. The 

 willow, owing to the greater density of its foliage, affords better shelter, and 

 is preferred on that account, and owing to the great sweep, in tlie wind, of 

 the branches, the eggs would be liable to be rolled out if the nest were of 

 the usual depth ; hence this adaptation to such positions. 



The food of the Orchard Oriole is almost exclusively insects. Of these 

 it consumes a large number, and with them it also feeds its young. 

 Most of these are of the kinds most obnoxious to the husbandman, preying 

 upon the foliage, destroying tiie fruit, and otherwise injuring the trees, 

 and their destroyers render an incalculable amount of benefit to the gar- 

 dens they favor with their presence. At the same time they are entirely 

 innocent of injury to crops of any description, and I cannot find that any 

 accusations or expressions of suspicion have been raised against them. They 

 seem to be, therefore, general favorites, and, where\er protected, evince tiieir 

 appreciation of this good-will by their familiarity and numjiers. 



The female sits upon her eggs fourteen days, and the young remain in the 

 nest about ten days longer. They are supposed to have occasionally two 

 broods in a season, as nests with eggs are found tlie last of July. They 

 are said to arrive in Pennsylvania about the first of May, and to leave before 

 the middle of September. 



According to Wilson they are easily raised I'mm tlie nest, and become very 



