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 tones of 

 his agitated ditty. Between these hurried attempts he also gives others, which 

 are distinct and agreeable, and not unlike the sweet warble of the red-breasted 

 Grosbeak, though more brief and less varied. 



In choosing the situation of his nest he is equally familiar with the Balti- 

 more oriole, and seems to enjoy the general society of his species, suspending his 

 most ingenious and pensile fabric from the bending twigs of the apple tree. Like 

 the nest of the other, this is constructed in the form of a pouch from three to 

 five inches in depths, according to the strength or the flexibility of the tree on 

 which he labors. 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 or the 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 not 

 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 substances— sometimes the wool of the seeds of the buttonwood — forming 

 thus a commodious and soft bed for the young. This precaution of a warm 

 lining, according to Audubon, is dispensed with in the warm climate of Louisiana. 



The eggs are four or five, of a very pale bluish tint, with a few points of 

 brown and spots of dark purple, chiefly disposed at the greater end. The female 

 sits about fourteen days, and the young continue in the nest ten days before 

 they become qualified to flit along with their parents ; but they are generally seen 

 flying about the middle of June. 



Previous to their departure, the young, leaving the care of their parents, 

 become gregarious, and assemble sometimes in flocks of separate sexes, from thirty 

 to forty or upward. In the South they then frequent the savannas, feeding much 

 on crickets, grasshoppers and spiders. Their ordinary diet is caterpillars and 

 insects, of which they destroy great numbers. In the course of the season they 

 likewise feed on various kinds of juicy fruits and berries; but their depredations 

 on the fruits of the orchard are very unimportant. 



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