THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 



ALTIMORE Orioles are in- 

 habitants of the whole of 

 North America, from Can- 

 ada to Mexico. They 

 enter Louisiana as soon as 

 spring commences there. The name 

 of Baltimore Oriole has been given it, 

 because its colors of black and orange 

 are those of the family arms of Lord 

 Baltimore, to whom Maryland formerly 

 belonged. Tradition has it that 

 George Calvert, the first Baron Balti- 

 more, worn out and discouraged by 

 the various trials and rigours of tem- 

 perature experienced in his Newfound- 

 land colony in 1628, visited the Vir- 

 ginia settlement. He explored the 

 waters of the Chesapeake, and found 

 the woods and shores teeming with 

 birds, among them great flocks of 

 Orioles, which so cheered him by their 

 beauty of song and splendor of plum- 

 age, that he took them as good omens 

 and adopted their colors for his 

 own. 



When the Orioles first arrive the 

 males are in the majority; they sit in 

 the spruces calling by the hour, with 

 lonely querulous notes. In a few days 

 however, the females appear, and then 

 the martial music begins, the birds' 

 golden trumpeting often turning to a 

 desperate clashing of cymbals when 

 two males engage in combat, for "the 

 Oriole has a temper to match his flam- 

 ing plumage and fights with a will." 

 This Oriole is remarkably familiar, 

 and fearless of man, hanging its beau- 

 tiful nest upon the garden trees, and 

 even venturing into the street wher- 

 ever a green tree flourishes. The 

 materials of which its nest is made are 

 flax, various kinds of vegetable fibers, 

 wool, and hair, matted together so as 

 to resemble felt in consistency. A 

 number of long horse-hairs are passed 

 completely through the fibers, sewing 

 it firmly together with large and irreg- 

 ular, but strong and judiciously placed 



stitching. In one of these nests an 

 observer found that several of the hairs 

 used for this purpose measured two 

 feet in length. The nest is in the 

 form of a long purse, six or seven 

 inches in depth, three or four inches 

 in diameter ; at the bottom is arranged 

 a heap of soft material in which the 

 eggs find a warm resting place. The 

 female seems to be the chief architect, 

 receiving a constant supply of mater- 

 ials from her mate, occasionally reject- 

 ing the fibres or hairs which he may 

 bring, and sending him off for another 

 load more to her taste. 



Like human builders, the bird im- 

 proves in nest building by practice, 

 the best specimens of architecture 

 being the work of the oldest birds, 

 though some observers deny this. 



The eggs are five in number, and 

 their general color is whitish-pink, 

 dotted at the larger end with purplish 

 spots, and covered at the smaller end 

 with a great number of fine intersect- 

 ing lines of the same hue. 



In spring the Oriole's food seems to 

 be almost entirely of an animal nature, 

 consisting of caterpillars, beetles, and 

 other insects, which it seldom pursues 

 on the wing, but seeks with great 

 activity among the leaves and branches. 

 Its also eats ripe fruit. The males 

 of this elegant species of Oriole acquire 

 the full beauty of their plumage the 

 first winter after birth. 



The Baltimore Oriole is one of the 

 most interesting features of country 

 landscape, his movements, as he runs 

 among the branches of trees, differing 

 from those of almost all other birds. 

 Watch him clinging by the feet to 

 reach an insect so far away as to 

 require the full extension of the neck, 

 body, and legs without letting go his 

 hold. He glides, as it were, along a 

 small twig, and at other times moves 

 sidewise for a few steps. His motions 

 are elegant and stately. 



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