90 Bird Studies. 



would perhaps have escaped your attention but for his advent for the nest 

 she is building is well protected by the leaves about it and its own neutral 

 color, though it hangs at the extremity of the drooping limb above your head. 



The male bird is about seven inches and a half long. When fully 

 mature his head is covered by a black hood reaching to the breast in 

 front and well down on the back above. The breast, sides, belly, and the 

 lower part of the back are bright fiery orange. The wings are black with 

 oranee shoulders and a sino-le distinct white bar. The tail feathers are 

 orange, each one having a black area and forming together a broad wedge 

 shaped mark, on the bright orange ground. 



The female is dull brownish orange or yellow above and below. This 

 color is relieved by some admixture of blackish feathers on the head, and 

 sometimes by a black spot on the throat. The tail is dull brown orange, or 

 brownish yellow, the middle feathers of which are obscurely marked with 

 dusky or black. The wings are dusky, and some of the feathers are margined 

 with whitish. 



Young birds resemble the female, but have no black at first, and are 

 more olive yellow in general color. 



The nest is figured on a preceding page and is a marvel of industry and 

 skill. Both birds work at weaving it but the female is the director of work 

 and the chief laborer. These nests are usually suspended from stout twigs 

 near the extremity of the limb or branch, and from fifteen to fifty feet from 

 the ground. They are made of various plant fibres, stray horse hair, and 

 fine strips of bark. 



From four to six white eggs are laid. These are curiously marked with 

 angular scrawling and a few spots or dots of dusky brown or umber. They 

 are a little over nine tenths of an inch long, and more than three fifths of an 

 inch in width. 



The Baltimore Oriole is found in Eastern North America extending 

 west nearly to the Rocky Mountains. It breeds from the Gulf States to 

 New Brunswick and winters in Central America. 



