BALTIMORE ORIOLE 259 



past two winters have continued to visit the table in increasing num- 

 bers. They made particularly good use of it during the fortnight of 

 almost continuous rain at the end of October 1944, when many of the 

 local birds seemed to experience difficulty in finding enough to eat. 

 Then birds of a dozen species came in colorful crowds and consumed 

 the bananas and plantains faster than they ripened. In 1945, the last 

 Baltimore oriole of the season was seen at the feeding shelf on April 20." 



Behavior. — To many of us who live in the Northern States 

 the Baltimore oriole represents the spirit of spring. He arrives at the 

 high tide of the season's beauty when he is at the peak of his magnif- 

 icent spirits. But how soon his spirits fade! A month, and he begins 

 to step back from the footlights, leaving the stage to less dominant 

 personalities, as the red-eyed vireo and the robin. 



The oriole fits easily into the community of the breeding birds about 

 him, often building in the same tree with one of his neighbors. M. G. 

 Vaiden (MS.) tells of a large pecan tree in which a wood pewee, a 

 red-eyed vireo, a wood thrush, an orchard oriole, and two Baltimore 

 orioles had nests at the same time and lived "a fairly agreeable life 

 together." A. D. Du Bois (MS.) reports that "a pair of kingbirds 

 had a nest in a burr oak only 5 or 6 yards from an oriole's nest, and 

 the two species seemed to live amicably as close neighbors." 



E. H. Forbush (1907) presents a dark side of the oriole's character: 



The bird, a valiant fighter, does not hesitate to attack its enemies with its 

 sharp beak, — a weapon not to be despised. It does the fierciest battle with the 

 Kingbird, and may be seen sometimes struggling in mid air with this doughty 

 adversary, until both birds fall to the ground breathless and exhausted. It 

 sometimes succumbs, however, to the swarming numbers and extreme pugnacity 

 of the "English" Sparrow, and where the Sparrows become most numerous they 

 often drive out the Orioles. The Oriole itself, however, is not always guiltless 

 in respect to other birds. Occasionally it destroys other nests, either to get 

 material for building its own, or out of pure mischief. Mr. Mosher observed a 

 male Oriole attempting to drive another away from its nest. The stranger would 

 make a rush at the nest, and then the owner would grapple with him. This 

 running fight was kept up for fully 3 hours. In the meantime the rogue Oriole 

 went to a Redstart's nest, threw out the eggs, and threw down the nest. The 

 next day an Oriole, probably the same bird, was seen to throw out an egg from a 

 Red-eyed Vireo's nest, when he was set upon and driven away by the owners. 

 Three other instances have been reported to me by trustworthy observers who 

 have seen Orioles in the act of destroying the nests or eggs of other birds; but so 

 far as I know, few writers have recorded such habits, and they are probably 

 exceptional. 



M. G. Vaiden (MS.) remarks: "The Baltimore is a very good watch- 

 man; he defends his territory with great vigor and daring. Most of 

 his fighting is with our red squirrels, jays, and mockingbirds, but 

 occasionally he attacks other birds when near its nest." 



Audubon (1842) speaks of the migration thus: "During migration, 



