80 



TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



notes. They are very beneficial in their destruction of 

 caterpillars and other injurious worms and insects, upon 

 which they almost wholly subsist, occasionally plucking 

 for a dessert a berry from a bush or a pea from the pod ; 

 but never claim a hundredth part of the share to which 

 tliey are rightfully entitled. 



Their nests are suspended from the extremities of 

 branches (the elm appears to be the favorite tree), fifteen 

 to forty feet from the ground ; a compact, strongly- woven, 

 deep, purse-like structure, composed of and attached to the 

 twigs from which it hangs, with flax-like strippings from 

 plants and vines, and lined with hair-like stems of grasses ; 

 when in the vicinity of dwellings, twine and thread are 

 used largely in its makeup. Eggs four or ^ve, .92x.60; 

 pale bluish white, with a rosy hue when fresh, marked 

 with long, waving lines and spots of purple and blackish 

 brown, chiefly at larger end; in form, oval to ovate. 



XIX.— OECHAED OEIOLE. 



Icterus spurius (Linn.). 



Summer resident; abundant. Arrive the last of April 

 to first of May; begin laying the last of May; return 

 the last of August to middle of September. 



Habitat. Eastern United States; west to the base of 

 the Eocky Mountains; south in winter to Panama. 



Iris dark brown; bill, upper black, under pale blue; 

 legs, feet and claws bluish black. 



This species is rarely met with in the northern United 

 States, but is very common in the middle and southern 

 portions. Its favorite resorts are along the prairie streams 

 skirted with timber, and the groves and orchards about 



