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ICTERUS SPURIUS— GMEL. 



ORCHARD HANG-NEST, OR ORIOLE. 



Orchard Oriole, Oriolus mutatus, Wils. Amer. Orn. 

 Icterus spurius, Bonap. Syn. 



Spurious or Orchard Oriole, Icterus spurius. Nutt. Man. 

 Orchard Oriole, Tcterus spurius, Aud. Orn. Biog. 



Specific Character— -Bill along the gap eleven-sixteenths of an 

 inch ; tarsi thirteen-sixteenths ; tail much rounded, without spots ; 

 the outer feathers tipped with dull white. Adult male with the 

 head and neck all round, fore part of the back and tail feathers, 

 black; wings brownish-black, margined with dull white, seconda- 

 ry coverts and tail feathers tipped with the same ; rest parts, in- 

 cluding the lesser wing coverts, chestnut-red. Female with the 

 upper parts dull yellowish-green ; lower parts pale yellow ; secon- 

 dary and lesser wing coverts tipped with white. Young male 

 with the fore part of the head, throat, and fore neck, black ; 

 breast, abdomen, and sides of the body, greenish-yellow, marked 

 with reddish-brown ; upper parts yellowish-green ; hind part of 

 back, rump, and upper tail coverts, marked with dull red ; wings 

 and tail brownish-black ; secondary and first row of small coverts 

 broadly tipped with white. Length of adult six inches and a half, 

 wing three and one-eighth. 



This species, more abundant than the Baltimore, is found in 

 all our orchards. As if aware of the valuable service it renders to 

 the husbandman in removing numberless insects that infest the 

 fruit-trees during spring and summer, it becomes quite familiar — 

 and, like the former, willing to confide in man, suspends its nest 

 near the cottage-door. The Orchard Oriole arrives among us in 

 the latter part of May, and like the Baltimore, the males are in ad- 

 vance of the females several days. In the month of September it 

 migrates southward. 



