ROBIN ORIOLE BLACKBIRD. 327 



face is cleared into fields, but having a special love for 

 meadows. He is a summer visitor, although the snows 

 sometimes catch him. Nuttall remarks, " Wilson even ob- 

 served them in the month of February, during a deep snow 

 among the heights of the Alleghanies, gleaning their scanty 

 pittance on the road in company with the small snowbird." 

 This is not unusual. He is familiar to all, is a beautiful 

 bird, and has always been much admired for his thrilling 

 notes, which he utters on the wing. 



ICTERUS Baltimore, golden robin, or hanging bird, passes 

 its summers on the Alleghanies, and breeds there, but is not 

 very abundant. He is seen occasionally in the forests, but 

 seems to prefer a nearer approach to the residence of man. 

 His bright and beautiful form, however, flashes through the 

 denser woods, the golden sheen of his brilliant plumage 

 startling the eye of the traveler. He is well known to all, 

 and his melodious notes hailed as a voice of the spring. 

 His pensile nest, .woven out of stolen thread, flax, hair, and 

 feathers, and hanging like a bag from some pendent branch, 

 is one of the most interesting objects in nature. His bio- 

 graphers ecstasize over him, being seduced by his beauty 

 and intelligence, and captivated by his song. He possesses 

 powers of mimicking quite remarkable. 



ICTERUS Spurius, (Bon.) Orchard oriole. This is a much 

 plainer species, and not so large as the golden robin. It 

 comes to the mountain during the first part of May. This 

 species has many of the interesting elements of character 

 which mark the Baltimore oriole : the same deep bag-nest, 

 same social instincts, etc. Of this bird, Nuttall remarks, 

 " It appears to affect the elevated and airy regions of the 

 Alleghany Mountains, where it is much more numerous than 

 the Baltimore-" This will not apply to the Pennsylvania 

 Alleghanies, where the other oriole is much more numerous 

 certainly. 



ICTERUS Phoeniceus, (Daud.) The red-winged blackbird 

 is a very common species of the genus. This oriole is 

 found on the mountains, in every swamp and meadow, 



