about the middle of May, and full sets of eggs may be looked for the last week 

 in this month, while in central New York, Connecticut. Wisconsin, southern 

 Minnesota, etc., they usually nest from eight to fourteen days later. 



Few of our native birds build a more ingeniously constructed nest than the 

 Baltimore oriole, and it must always be considered a most interesting example 

 of bird architecture, taking time, intelligence and good judgment to construct. 

 From five to eight days are usually required for its completion. 



Some nests show a great superiority over others in general make-up and 

 workmanship ; these are perhaps the product of old and experienced birds, while 

 the younger ones, from lack of judgment, often select poor sites, or else secure 

 their nests carelessly to the supporting twigs, so that many are destroyed before 

 the young reach maturity. 



Ordinarily the nest of the Baltimore oriole is pensile, and is usually sus- 

 pended by the rini from the extremities of several slender branches to which it is 

 attached. 



Others, besides being fastened by the rim, which is always neat and smoothl) 

 finished, are attached to some perpendicular fork or limb by one of the sides, 

 thus steadying the nest and preventing it from swinging too much during the 

 heavy winds. In a truly pensile nest some of the eggs are occasionally cracked 

 by the violent swaying of the slender tw'igs to which it is attached, while if 

 fastened at the side this occurs very rarely, unless the entire limb is torn ofT. Both 

 sexes assist in nest building. 



The materials used for the framework consist principally of decayed fibers, 

 such as those of the Indian hemp, the silk of the milkweed {Asclepias), nettles 

 (Urtica), and when located near human habitations, of horsehair, bits of twine, 

 yarn, strips of grapevine bark, etc. With such materials a strong purse or pouch- 

 shaped nest is woven and firmly attached to one or more forked twigs by the 

 slightly-contracted rim, and it is usually placed in such a position that the entrance 

 is well shaded by leafy twigs above 



All sorts of materials are used in lining the bottom and sides of the nest — 

 cotton, wool. tow. rags, cattle hair. fur. fine strips of bark, green moss, fine grass 

 and plant down. They readily avail themselves of any suitable materials, such as 

 yarn, which may be thrown out to them, but prefer jilain to gaudy colored stufTs. 



The color of some of the nests varies considerably according to the materials 

 used ; some look almost white, others a pale straw color, and the majority smoke- 

 gray. In the south the Baltimore oriole builds occasionally in bunches of the 

 gray moss. 



The nests are usually suspended from long, slender drooping branches of 

 elm, maple, birch, weeping-willow, buttonwood. sycamore, oak, aspen, poplar. 

 Norway spruce, apple, pear and wild cherry trees ; but in some localities they are 

 frequently built in the very top and center of a tree where it is almost impossible 

 to see them. They are placed at various heights from the ground, from eighty to 



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