BIRDS OF NEW YORK 24I 



opening the pods with his sharp bill and devouring large quantities of 

 the tender seeds. In this way, in my experience, he does much more 

 harm than by depredations upon the berries; but he is so much less 

 destructive than the Robin, Cedar bird, and Red-headed woodpecker that 

 complaints are rarely made against him and there can be no doubt that 

 he is one of the very best friends which the gardener can have about his 

 premises. As everyone knows, the oriole builds a pensile nest, usually 

 suspending it from the drooping branches of an elm tree, soft maple, apple 

 tree or in fact any tree, although his preference seems to be for the elm. 

 I have found this oriole's nest hanging from Norway spruce, hemlock, 

 and horsechestnut which one would naturally expect he never would 

 select. In different villages of western New York the preference seems 

 to be in this order: white elm, silver maple, sugar maple, and apple. The 

 main construction materials used by the oriole are gray plant fibers, 

 especially those from the outside of milkweed stalks, waste packing cord 

 and horsehair ; sometimes pieces of rags and paper are discovered in the 

 nest, but it is almost without exception a grayish bag as it appears from 

 the outside, and is lined principally with horsehairs and softer materials, 

 making a thick felted gourd-shaped structure which swells considerably 

 toward the bottom so that there is ample room for the 5 young birds to 

 develop. The eggs, though usually 5, are from 4 to 6 in number. Incu- 

 bation occupies 12 days. The eggs are ovate in shape but are rather an 

 elongated ovate, colored grayish or bluish white, more or less heavily 

 marked with irregular pen lines and blotches of blackish brown, purplish 

 and pearl gray, usually thickest near the larger end of the egg. The average 

 dimensions of the eggs are .92 by .61. The average external dimensions 

 of the oriole's nest are 6 inches in depth by 4 inches in greatest diameter. 

 I have seen nests which are no more than 4 inches in depth and 3^ in 

 external diameter but I have been unable to verify the observations of 

 those popular writers who claim that orioles build shallower nests in villages 

 or near houses because they are less liable to be visited by predaceous 

 birds. The height of the nest from the ground in mv experience varies 



