HANGNESTS. 



29 



coverts and flights with, pale grey margins, the median 

 and greater coverts tipped with white; tail yellowish- 

 olive ; cheeks, sides of throat, and chest yellowish ; chin 

 and throat with an ill -defined dusky central streak ; 

 sides, flanks, and under tail-coverts greyish, the latter 

 washed with yellowish; middle of breast and abdomen 

 whitish. Hab., Southern and Central Mexico. 



I have come across no notes on the wild life of this 

 bird' ; it was represented in the London Zoological Gar- 

 dens in 1870. 



ORCHARD HANGNEST (Icterus spurius}. 



Above black ; lesser wing-coverts and rump and upper 

 tail-coverts chestnut ; median wing-coverts and flights 

 with narrow whitish edges ; outer tail-feathers with nar- 

 row white tips; nesk and throat black; remainder ot 

 under-surface chestnut; bill black, with basal half of 

 lower mandible bluish-white ; feet greyish-black ; irides 

 brown. Female yellowish-olive above, paler and more 

 yellow on upper tail-coverte and tail ; back duller with 

 slightly darker centres to the feathers ; middle and 

 greater whig-coverts with 'broad whitish tips ; under- 

 surface dull yellow, washed on sides and flanks with 

 olivaceous; vent bright ochre-yellow; wings dusky with 

 greenish-grey or whitish edges ; bill shorter, hut broader 

 at base. Hab., " Eastern North. America (in summer), 

 and southward through Mexico and Central America to 

 Panama " (P. L. Sclater). 



Captain Bendire says {" Life Histories," Vol II., pp. 

 479-482) : " It is a restless, impulsive, but well-dis- 

 positioned bird, on good terms with its neighbours, and 

 though not particularly shy, it is nevertheless difficult to 

 observe closely, as it generally conceals itself in the 

 densest foliage while at rest, or else flits quickly about 

 from twig to twig in search of insects, 011 which it lives 

 almost exclusively throughout the summer months. 



" Its favourite haunts, as its name implies, are 

 orchards, and when the apple and pear trees are in 

 bloom and the trees have commenced to leaf one may 

 look for the Orchard Oriole. It is generally found in 

 rather open country, interspersed here and there with 

 small groves ; also among the shady trees along country 

 road.?, and in the prairie States among the trees and 

 shrubbery along streams, preferring such localities to 

 heavier-timbered sections and forest regions. 



" Its song, most often heard in the earlier spring, is 

 uttered in a quick, hurried manner. Its loud, clear 

 strains, indicating its impulsive nature, are poured forth 

 with such rapidity as to be difficult to describe, and I 

 shall not attempt it ; but they remind me somewhat 

 of those of the Warbling Vireo, only sounding louder 

 and clearer. A chattering, querulous note, when dis- 

 turbed or alarmed from any cause, is also uttered. 



" Few birds do more good and less harm than our 

 Orchard Oriole, especially to the fruit-grower. The bulk 

 of its food consists of email beetles, plant lice, flies, 

 hairless caterpillars, cabbage worms, grasshoppers, rose 

 bugs, and larvae of all kinds, while the few berries it 

 may help itself to during the short time thev last are 

 many times paid for by the great number of noxious 

 insects destroyed, and it certainly deserves the fullest 

 protection." 



" Both sexes assist in nest-building, and generally 

 finish one in from three to four days. The neste are 

 placed in trees or bushes from 6ft. to 40ft. from the 

 ground, usually from 12ft. to 20ft., in a great 

 variety of trees, less often in conifers than in deciduous 

 kinds." "In the South the Orchard Oriole nests occa- 

 sionally in the grey moss (Tillandsia usneoides) so com- 

 monlv found hanging from many of the trees there." 



" The location and manner of attaching its ingeniously 

 woven, basket-like nests vary greatly. Some are set in 



a, crotch formed by several small twigs ; the bottom of 

 the nest occasionally rests on and is supported by these, 

 and again in similar locations it is unsupported, but 

 the sides are securely fastened to several of the twigs 

 among which it is placed ; then, again, some are built in 

 a^ fork of a horizontal limb, like the nest of an Acadian 

 Flycatcher or a Vireo, both sides of the nest being 

 fastened to the fork in which it is placed; again, it 

 may be fastened to some suitable twigs by the rim only, 

 in the manner of a hammock. Comparatively few, 

 excepting those of the last style and those built in moss, 

 can really be called pensile or even eemipensile nests. 

 They also vary greatly in bulk and depth." 



From what Captain Bendire says the nests seem! to 

 be most frequently composed of green wiry grass and 

 lined with plant-down, and he says that the green colour 

 is often retained for years. 



"From four to six eggs are usually laid to a set 

 (mostly five), and one is deposited daily. Incubation lasts 

 about twelve days, and I am of the opinion that this duty 

 is exclusively performed by the female. I have never 

 seen the male on the nest, but have seen him feed his 

 mate while incubating. I believe, as a rule, only one 

 brood is raised in a season." 



" The eggs are mostly ovate in shape, but occasionally 

 a set is found which is decidedly elongate-ovate. The 

 shell is moderately strong, closed-grained, and without 

 gloss. _The ground colour is usually pale bluish-white, 

 and this is sometimes faintly overlaid with pale pearl- 

 grey or greyish-white. The markings, which are nearly 

 always heaviest about the larger end of the egg, consist 

 of blotches, spots, scrawls, and tracings of several shades 

 of brown, purple, lavender, and pearl-grey, varying in 

 amount and intensity in different specimens. In the 

 majority of the eggs before me the darker markings 

 predominate, but the lighter-coloured and more neutral 

 tints are nearly always present to a greater or less 

 extent." 



Russ speaks of this Hangnest as a bird eagerly pur- 

 chased in Germany, and usually obtainable, occasionally 

 imported by Reiche and Ruhe in a considerable number, 

 but the female more rarely ; its price is comparatively 

 low 5 to 10 marks apiece, and at most 12 to 15 marks". 

 Yet in England I have never seen a living example; it 

 has, however, been exhibited in our London Gardens. 



CHESTNUT-SHOULDERED HANGNEST 

 (Icterus pyrrhopterus). 



Black ; upper lesser wing-coverts chestnut ; bill black ; 

 feet dark brown. Female much smaller and doubtless 

 with a shorter bill. Hab., South Brazil, Paraguay, 

 Argentina, and Bolivia. 



Hudson, says ("Argentine Ornithology," Vol. I., pp. 

 107, 108) : " This interesting bird, the only Icterus found 

 in the Argentine Republic^ ranges south to Buenos 

 Ayres, where it is migratory, and appears in small 

 flocks of six or eight individuals in September ; but 

 soon after arriving these little companies break ur>, and 

 the birds are subsequently found singly or in pairs in 

 the woods along the Plata' River." 



"It is a, loquacious bird, most of its tones being low 

 and pleasing; exceedingly restless in disposition, inces- 

 santly passing from tree to tree, jerking its long tail 

 and clinging to the branches in various attitudes, while 

 .searching for insects in the decayed bark. While thus 

 engaged it utters a great variety of chirping and guttural 

 sounds, interspersed with short agreeable notes. It also 

 has a. song of considerable merit, low and varied in tone, 

 with a peculiar ventriloquism in many of the notes 

 which produce a confusing idea on the listener that the 

 bird approaches and recedes alternately whilst uttering 



