360 Proceedings of Indiana Academy of Science. 
Carroll County: April 28, 1883, first noted today, in the Delphi school 
yard; May 12, first females noted. April 24, 1884, heard one in morning 
near my house in Camden. April 21, 1885, saw four or five, all males, in an 
orchard, near my house, the first of the season. June 25-July 1, 1905, one 
pair nesting in a maple tree in yard at old home. 
This is one of the beautiful birds with which I have been familiar since 
my earliest recollection. Its brilliant colors and its confiding domesticity, 
coming as it does about the house and fields, make it a bird quite sure to 
attract the attention of any one. About the middle of April the males arrive 
from the south. A few days later the females arrive, and soon nest-build- 
ing begins. The favorite trees selected in which to hang their beautiful 
pensile nests are maples, elms, poplars (Lireodendron tulipifera), and cot- 
tonwoods (Populus). A small poplar tree stood in the barn lot close to the 
house on the old home farm. In it a pair of orioles were quite sure to nest 
each year. It was a very safe place. The first limbs were 30 feet from the 
ground. The nest was usually hung well out toward the end of a slender 
limb, and always on the north side of the tree, where no cat could get at 
it and so near the house that no hawk or other marauder would dare molest 
it. In all the years I do not recall a single failure to raise a brood each 
year. I do not think a second brood is raised unless the first meets with 
accident. A new nest was built each year, and sometimes one or even two, 
old nests might be seen alongside the new; but usually the nest was not 
able to stand the winds and storms of winter so that, by the new home- 
building time, the tree would be free of old nests. In 1901, this old poplar 
tree blew down in a severe storm. Another tree in which the Baltimores 
were quite sure to build was a hard maple that stood in the lawn near 
the house,—a beautiful shade-tree, full-branched and symmetrical, in which 
the nests were usually placed well toward the top on the north side where, 
on account of the dense foliage, they were not easily seen. I think the 
Baltimore Orioles are now less abundant in this county than they were 20 
or 30 years ago. 
Monroe County: Probably more common here than in Carroll County. 
In 1882 to 1886, the first arrivals from the south were noted April 20, 21, 20, 
21, 28. On April 23, 1886, several were seen in the University campus. 
A few years ago a lady sat under a tree in her yard in Bloomington one 
afternoon unravelling an old stocking. She was called away for some 
reason, leaving the yarn lying in the yard. Next morning when she came to 
get the yarn it could not be found. The next fall, after the leaves had 
fallen and the trees were bare, an oriole’s nest was seen in one of the trees. 
It was gotten down and was found to have been made largely of yarn which 
the lady readily recognized as the long-lost stocking ravellings. 
Vigo County: Very common summer resident, even nesting in the shade 
trees on the city streets. April 24, 1888, a male seen; April 24, 1889, and 
April 28, 1891, noted at Terre Haute. 
125. KUPHAGUS CAROLINUS (Miiller). RUSTY BLACKBIRD. (509) 
Usually a rather rare spring and fall migrant. I have not seen it very 
often. Although I am sure I have seen it in Carroll County, especially 
when I was a boy, I have no actual definite record. In Monroe County, it 
é 
