THE PERSIC, THE BANANA, THE BLACK ORIOLE. 363 



The Niger sang sweetly; what time did the note 

 Of the Hang-nest on zephyrs enchantingly float; 

 Of the lawny Banana inscribe we the name. 

 And forget not his nest in the annals of fame. 



long; builds a thick pensile nest between reeds, and just above 

 the reach of floods ; eggs white, with a few black streaks; very 

 destructive to rice plantations ; it devours, also, swarms of 

 insects and worms ; inhabits in vast flocks from New York as 

 far as New Spain. Found in the summer in the northern, in the 

 winter in the southern American States. Another variety in- 

 habits Africa. 



The Persicusj Black-and-Yellow-Oriole, or Persic^ of 

 which there are three or four varieties, inhabits South America. 

 It forms a pendent nest, shaped like an alembic, on the extreme 

 branches of trees; sometimes, it is said, hundreds are seen 

 hanging from the same tree ; eggs dirty white, with small pale- 

 brown spots. 



The Bananffj Banana-Oriole, Bonana-Oriole, or Banana-bird, 

 is tawny ; back, and quill, and tail-feathers, black ; seven inches 

 long; inhabits South America and the Caribbee Islands; forms a 

 nest of leaves and stalks the shape of a fourth part ofaglobe,sewed 

 with great art to the under part of a banana leaf, so that the 

 leaf itself makes one side of the nest. I have ventured to differ, 

 even from Linn^us himself, as well as subsequent naturalists, 

 in the orthography of the specific name of this bird. The great 

 Swede gives us Bonana; but surely there can be no reason for such 

 an orthography, as the bird forms its nest partly of the leaf of 

 the Banana, {musa sapientum,) we ought not to depart from 

 the orthography of that word. I also give it in the genitive 

 case, as more expressive of the habit of this Oriole. 



The Niger, Black-Origle, or Troupiole, is totally black» 

 female greenish-brown ; ten inches long ; feeds on worms and 

 beetles ; builds in trees about eight feet from the ground, and 



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