ORIOLUS BALTIMORUS. 



BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 



[Plate LIII. Fig. 4— Female.] 



The history of this beautiful species has been already particularly 

 detailed ; to this representation of the female, drawn of half the size 

 of nature, a few particulars may be added. The males generally arrive 

 several days before the females, saunter about their wonted places of 

 residence, and seem lonely and less sprightly than after the arrival of 

 their mates. In the spring and summer of 1811, a Baltimore took up 

 its abode in Mr. Bartram's garden, whose notes were so singular as 

 particularly to attract my attention ; they were as well known to me as 

 the voice of my most intimate friend. On the thirtieth of April, 1812, 

 I was again surprised and pleased at hearing this same Baltimore in the 

 garden, whistling his identical old chant ; and I observed that he par- 

 ticularly frequented that quarter of the garden where the tree stood, 

 on the pendeut branches of which he had formed his nest the preceding 

 year. This nest had been taken possession of by the House Wren, a 

 few days after the Baltimore's brood had abandoned it ; and, curious to 

 know how the little intruder had furnished it within, I had taken it 

 down early in the fall, after the Wren herself had also raised a brood 

 of six young in it, and which was her second that season. I found it 

 stripped of its original lining, floored with sticks, or small twigs, above 

 which were laid feathers ; so that the usual complete nest of the Wren 

 occupied the interior of that of the Baltimore. 



The chief difl'erence between the male and female Baltimore Oriole, 

 is the superior brightness of the orange color of the former to that of 

 the latter. The black on the head, upper part of the back and throat, 

 of the female, is intermixed with dull orange ; whereas in the male 

 those parts are of a deep shining black ; the tail of the female also 

 wants the greater part of the black, and the whole lower parts are of a 

 much duskier orange. 



I have observed that these birds are rarely seen in pine woods, or 

 where these trees generally prevail. On the ridges of our high moun- 

 tains, they are also seldom to be met with. In orchards, and on well 

 cultivated farms, they are most numerous, generally preferring such 

 places to build in, rather than the woods or forest. 



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