Birds of Oregon and Washington 123 



" Hangbird," has wide fame, and its more mod- 

 est relative, the Orchard Oriole, is beloved of all 

 who know his song. Rare specimens of the 

 Bullock's Oriole equal, perhaps, the Baltimore 

 Oriole in glory of color ; but in song the bird is 

 always inferior to its eastern cousin. The Bul- 

 lock's Oriole is found as far east as Kansas. 



The eastern Oriole's song is a rich whistle, 

 while our western bird utters a music so 

 strangely remote from anything Oriole-like, that 

 one would never guess that it came from his 

 throat unless he caught him in the act — as I did, 

 after three weeks' guessing what new and strange 

 bird in the high shade-trees sang, not too gener- 

 ously, his " Keu, keu-a-keu, keu, keu." The 

 beauty of color, however, is great enough to ex- 

 cite our admiration ; and its song is sufficiently 

 sweet to delight our ear ; while its nest, hung 

 like a flexible basket, or even like a deep, round 

 satchel, from the swaying limb of some tree, 

 never fails to bring out the exclamation, ^* What 

 man could do that ! " 



This bird sings and nests high, and some day 

 a song in the tree-tops will please, and at the 

 same time puzzle, unless you can see the west- 



