The Baltimore Oriole 135 



bor the Bobolink, Orchard and Baltimore (Orioles, Redwing, Meadow- 

 lark, various Grackles, together with the vagrant Cowbird, in the branches 

 of the same family tree ? 



One of the many welcome facts concerning the Oriole is the ease with 

 which he is identified; and I say he advisedly, for his more industrious half, 

 who is the expert weaver of the pair, is much the more somber of hue. In 

 early May, or even as late as the middle of the month in backward seasons, 

 you will hear a half -militant, half-complaining note from the high tree 

 branches. As you go out to find its origin, it will be repeated, and then a 

 flash of flame and black will shoot across the range of vision toward 

 another tree, and the bird, chiding and complaining, begin a minute search 

 along the smaller twigs for insects. This is the Oriole, Icterus galbula, 

 as he first appears in full spring array, — his head, throat and top of back 

 and wings black, except a few margins and quills that are white-edged. 

 The breast and under parts, lower part of back and lesser wing-coverts 

 are orange flame, while his tail is partly black and partly orange. 



Two other tree-top birds that arrive at about the same time, one to 

 remain and one to pass on, wear somewhat the same combination of red 

 and black — the Redstart and the Blackburnian Warbler. But, besides being 

 much smaller birds, they both belong to the pretty tribe of Warblers that, 

 with a few notable exceptions, such as the Chat and Water-Thrushes, 

 should be more properly called lispers, and not to be confused with the 

 clear-toned Oriole. 



Once the female Oriole arrives, usually several days after the 

 His Mate male, his complaining call, "Will you ? Will you really truly?" 



gradually lessens; and after a few weeks, when nest -building 

 begins, it quite disappears or, rather, is appropriated by the songless female, 

 who, while she weaves the nest, is encouraged by the clarion song of her 

 mate. The plumage of the female is brown and gray blended with orange 

 above, the head, back and throat being mottled with black, while the 

 under parts are a dull orange, with little of the flaming tints of the male. 

 Though the Oriole exposes himself more freely to view 

 His Nest than most of our highly colored birds, and in fact seems to 



regard his gift of beauty anything but seriously, he takes no 

 chances, however, in the locating of his nest, which is not only from twenty 

 feet above the ground upward, but is suspended from a forked branch that 

 is at once tough yet so slender that no marauding cat would dare venture 

 to it. This pensile nest is diligently woven of grasses, twine, vegetable 

 fibers, horsehair, bits of worsted or anything manageable, and varies much 

 in size and shape, as if the matter of individual taste entered somewhat into 

 the matter. It has been fairly well proven that location enters largely into 

 this matter, and that nests in wild regions, where birds of prey, etc., 

 abound, are smaller at the top and have a more decided neck than those in 



