BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 9 1 



and retiring pairs had this summer, contrary to their usual 

 habits, taken up their abode in the lofty branches of a gigantic 

 Buttonwood in the forest. As soon as we appeared they took 

 the alarm, and remained uneasy and irritable until we were 

 wholly out of sight. Others, again, visit the heart of the popu- 

 lous city, and pour forth their wild and plaintive songs from the 

 trees which decorate the streets and gardens, amid the din of 

 the passing crowd and the tumult of incessant and noisy occu- 

 pations. Audubon remarks that their migrations are performed 

 singly and during the day, and that they proceed high, and fly 

 straight and continuous. 



The food of the Baltimore appears to be small caterpillars, — 

 sometimes those of the apple-trees, — some uncommon kinds 

 of beetles, cimices, and small flies, like a species of cynips. 

 Occasionally I have seen an individual collecting Cicindeli by 

 the sides of sandy and gravelly roads. They feed their young 

 usually with soft caterpillars, which they swallow, and disgorge 

 on arriving at the nest j and in this necessary toil both sexes 

 assiduously unite. They seldom molest any of the fruits of our 

 gardens, except a few cherries and mulberries, and are the 

 most harmless, useful, beautiful, and common birds of the 

 country. They are, however, accused of sometimes accom- 

 panying their young to the garden peas, which they devour 

 while small and green ; and being now partly gregarious, the 

 damage they commit is at times rendered visible. Occasionally 

 they are seen in cages, being chiefly fed on soaked bread, or 

 meal and water ; they appear also fond of cherries, straw- 

 berries, currants, raisins, and figs, so that we may justly 

 consider them, like the Cassicans and Starlings, as omnivorous, 

 though in a less degree. They sing and appear lively in con- 

 finement or domestication, and become very docile, playful, 

 and friendly, even going in and out of the house, and some- 

 times alighting at a whistle on the hand of their protector. 

 The young for a while require to be fed on animal food alone, 

 and the most suitable appears to be fresh minced meat, soaked 

 in new milk. In this way they may be easily raised almost 

 from the first hatching ; but at this time vegetable substances 



