464 



0f 



the other, giving the whole a proper depth, 

 and crossing and interweaving them as the 

 work proceeds, forms the concavity or basket, 

 which is afterwards thickened with the steins 

 of the finer grasses, intermixed with mosses 

 and lichens, and lined with leathers and still 

 finer materials. It usually lays four or five 

 eggs, which are of a dull white colour, 

 speckled witli black. 



The name Oriole, as we have said, is also 

 applied to birds allied to the Starlings, to 

 which naturalists have applied the names of 

 Icterus and Ayelaius. Nearly all the birds 

 which belong to this numerous and beautiful 

 genus arc natives of the American continent. 



Dme of the species are 

 solitary in their habit 



re gregarious 

 s ; but all a< 



1, others 

 ire of a 



noisy and restless disposition, and feed on 

 various kinds of fruit, grain, and insects. 

 They are remarkable for the structure of 

 their nest, which in some species hangs from 

 the branch to which it is attached, and in 

 others is sewed or fastened with peculiar art 

 beneath the surface of some very large leaf. 

 Tiie bill of this genus is straight, conical, 

 and very sharp-pointed ; mandibles of equal 

 length ; nostrils small, placed at the base of 

 the bill, and partly covered ; tongue divided 

 at the end ; toes three forward and one 

 backward ; the middle joined near the base 

 to the outermost one. 



The BALTIMORE OKIOLE (/cfettw Balti- 

 more) takes its name (according to Catesby) 

 from its colours, which are black and orange, 



in the form of a pyramid, supported on an 

 arch of orange. Tail slightly forked, the 

 exterior feather on each side a quarter of an 

 inch shorter than the others : legs and feet 

 light blue, or lead colour : iris of the eve 

 hazel. 



Almost the whole genus of Orioles build 

 pensile nests. In Wilson's American Orni- 

 thology we read, that " so solicitous is the 

 Baltimore to procure proper materials for 

 his nest, that, in the season of building, 

 the women in the country are under the 



necessity of liarrowly 



mntry 

 wgtehj 



ng their thread 



that may chance to be out bleaching, and the 

 farmer to secure his young grafts ; as the 

 Baltimore, finding the former, and the strings 

 which secure the latter, so well adapted for 

 his purpose, frequently carries off both ; or, 

 should the one be over heavy, and the other 

 too firmly tied* he will tug at them a con- 

 siderable time before he gives up the attempt. 

 Skeins of silk and hanks of thread have 

 been often found, after the leaves were fallen, 

 hanging round the Baltimore's nest ; but so 

 woven up, and entangled, as to be entirely 

 irreclaimable. Before the introduction of 

 Europeans, no such material could have been 

 obtained here ; but, with the sagacity of a 

 good architect, he has improved this circum- 

 stance to his advantage ; and the strongest 

 and best materials are uniformly found in 

 those parts by which the whole is supported. 

 Their principal food consists of caterpillars, 

 beetles, and bugs, particularly of one of a 



have almost always found in their stomach, 



BALTIMORE BIRD. (IO TEROS 



edges of the secondaries, and part of those 

 j of the primaries, white ; the tail feathers 

 under the coverts, orange ; the two middle 

 ones, from thence to the tips, are black, 

 the next five, on each side, black near the 

 coverts, and orange towards the extremities, 



a kind of rapid chirruping, very different 

 from his usual note. This, however, is al- 

 ways succeeded by those mellow tones which 

 seem so congenial to his nature. 



" The Baltimore inhabits North America, 

 from Canada to Mexico, and is even found 

 as far south as Brazil. Since the streets of 

 our cities have been planted with that beau- 

 tiful and stately tree, the Lombardy poplar, 

 these birds are our constant visitors during 

 the early part of summer ; and, amid the 

 noise and tumult of coaches, drays, wheel- 

 barrows, and the din of the multitude, they 

 are heard chanting " their native wood-notes 

 wild ; " sometimes, too, within a few yards 

 of an oyster-man, who stands bellowing, 

 with the lungs of a Stentor, under the shade 

 of the same tree ; so much will habit recon- 

 cile even birds to the roar of the city, and 

 to sounds and noises, that, in other circum- 

 stances, would put a whole grove of them to 

 flight. These birds are several years in re- 

 ceiving their complete plumage. Sometimes 



so disposed, that when the tail is expanded, the whole tail of a male individual in spring 

 and the coverts removed, the black appears j is yellow, sometimes only the two middle 



