484 LIFE HISTOKIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Eastern States are louucl in rather open country, along roads bordered with shade 

 trees, creek bottoms, orchards, and the borders of small timbered tracts. It is 

 equally at home in villages or cities of considerable size, as long as they fur- 

 nish suitable trees for nesting sites. It shuns swampy and marshy tracts and 

 extensive forests. 



A very peculiar note, a long-di'awn-out, chattering "chae, chae, chae," is apt 

 to draw one's attention to it on its first arrival, and this is more or less frequently 

 uttered throughout the season. This note is difficidt to reproduce exactly, and 

 I find its songs still more so. One soviuds somewhat like "liioh, hioh, tweet, 

 tweet;" another something like "whee-he-he, whee-he-he, oh whee-he-he-woy- 

 woy." This last is much more softly uttered than the first. Mr. T. Nuttall 

 describes one of their songs as "tshippe-tshayia-too-too-tshippe-tshiijpa-too-too," 

 and there are others impossible to render. The young, after leaving the nest, 

 utter a note like "hedie-hiie," and another like "heek-heek-he," varied occasion- 

 ally by a low twittering. Shortly after their arrival they sing almost incessantly 

 when not eating; but later in the season, when they have their always hungry 

 family to provide for, tliey are more silent. Their flight is strong, swift, and 

 graceful, and they are far more at home on the wing than on the ground, where 

 they are seldom seen exce})t when picking -up some insect or in search of nesting 

 material. 



In the vicinity of Washington, District of Columbia, nidification commences 

 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 tin- 

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

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

 and 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, and 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 rim from the extremities of several slender branches, to Avhich it 

 is attached. Others, besides being fastened by the rim, which is always neat 

 and smoothly finished, are attached to some perpendicular fork or limb by one 

 of the sides, thus steadying the nest and preventing it from swinging too inucli 

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

 cracked by the violent swaying of the slender twigs to which it is attached, 

 wlfile if fastened at the side this occurs very rarely, unless the entire liml) is 

 torn off. Both sexes assist in nest building. The materials used for the frame- 

 work consist principally of decayed fibers, such as those of the Indian hemp 

 (Apocynwin androscemifolium), the silk of milkweed (Asdepias), nettles (Urtlcd), 

 and, when located near human habitations, of horsehair, bits of twine, yarn, 



