INTRODUCTION TO SOME SPECIES 35 



bird undergoes some curious changes, and what I took 

 to be the year-old males seemed to be the most spirited 

 musicians. 



Maurice Thompson's tribute to the Baltimore oriole 

 will apply to that bird's western kinsman. He calls 

 him : 



" Athlete of the air 

 Of fire and song a glowing core ; " 



and then adds, with tropical fervor: 



" A hot flambeau on either wing 

 Rimples as you pass me by ; 

 T is seeing flame to hear you sing, 

 T is hearing song to see you fly. 



" When flowery hints foresay the berry, 

 * On spray of haw and tuft of brier, 

 Then, wandering incendiary, 



You set the maple swamps afire ! " 



Many nests of Bullock's oriole rewarded my slight 

 search. They are larger and less compactly woven 

 than the Baltimore's, and have a woolly appearance 

 exteriorly, as if the down of the cottonwood trees had 

 been wrought into the fabric. Out on the plains I 

 counted four dangling nests, old and new, on one 

 small limb; but that, of course, was unusual, there 

 being only one small clump of trees within a radius of 

 many miles. 



