158 



NATURAL HISTORY OP THE FARM 



of a primitive loom, such as women of certain tribes use 

 to-day. Into this warp the threads of the woof are woven, 

 by the woman with her fingers (aided, perhaps, by a crude 

 wooden shuttle) , by the bird with its slender beak. If anyone 

 think that the weaving of the oriole is not well done, let him 



sit down with an empty 

 nest and try to unravel all 

 its threads ! 



The fiber products used 

 by the oriole are such as 

 were first used by man for 

 textile work strips of 

 bark, strands of bast fibers, 

 long hairs from the tails 

 of horses and cattle, grass 

 stems and leaves; in short, 

 anything that nature 

 offered, and that had 

 sufficient length, strength 

 and pliancy. In our day, 

 this bird has adopted one 

 of the products of our 

 spindles, cotton-wrapping 

 twine, for the warp of its 

 nest, doubtless finding, 

 just as we have found, 



that this is superior for the purpose to anything that nature 

 offers ready-made. Perhaps we thus repay an unacknow- 

 ledged debt we may be owing this bird-weaver; for possibly 

 some poetic soul in an age long gone may have watched 

 an oriole at his labors, as Lowell did: 



"When oaken woods with buds are pink, 



Then from the honeysuckle gray 

 The oriole with experienced quest 



Twitches the fibrous bark away 

 The cordage of his hammock-nest," 



FIG. 63. An oriole at his nest, bringing a 

 thread for the weaving. 



