BIRDS OF BRILLIANT FEATHERS. 153 



It is often the case that the mother-bird (she most 

 frequently does all the work) gets entangled with a 

 bit of string while she is building the nest, and some- 

 times it is at the cost of her life. I have seen one 

 bird so badly mixed up with a snarl of hair and 

 string that her wings were helpless, and she fluttered 

 to the ground in dangerous proximity to an ever- 

 watchful cat; but she was rescued in time and re- 

 leased from the tangle. For four successive years 

 this oriole built her nest in a sugar maple within 

 ten feet of the hotel, and only a few yards from the 

 highway, at Blair, N. H., where the mountain woods 

 were near enough to satisfy birds of the most fas- 

 tidious social habits ; but the oriole is not content 

 to nest farther than a dozen yards from one's door- 

 step. 



The oriole's notes are so familiar that I do not 

 need to give more than a few 

 of the commoner ones to re- 

 fresh our memory : 



l8va 



The couplets are very clear and distinct, and have 

 a better pitch, perhaps, than those of the robin. 

 However similarly the two birds may sing, we can 



