132 ORCHARD ORIOLE, 
is not so well known. The female is especially easy to — 
overlook, her suit of plain olive-green closely harmoniz- 
Orchard Oriole, 12g With the leaves in color. Young 
Icterus spurius. | males at first exactly resemble her, but 
PlateXXXVL the following spring return, wearing 
their father’s black cravat. In this plumage they might 
readily be taken for another species, so little do they re- 
semble their parents in appearance. The adult chestnut 
and black plumage is not fully acquired until the sec- 
ond, or perhaps even the third spring. 
The Orchard Oriole winters in Central Avsasieel and 
in the summer is found throughout the eastern United 
States from the Gulf of Mexico to Massachusetts. It 
arrives from the South about May 1, and is one of the 
first birds to leave in the fall, rarely being seen after 
September 1. Nesting is begun late in May. The nest 
is pensile, but not so deep as that of the Baltimore Oriole, 
having more the proportions of a Vireo’s nest. It is 
composed entirely of freshly dried greenish grasses, and 
is suspended from near the extremity of a branch ata 
height of fifteen to twenty feet. The three to five eggs 
are bluish white, spotted, blotched, and scrawled with 
black. 
The song of the Orchard Oriole resembles that of his 
orange-and-black cousin, but is far richer in tone and 
more finished in character. 
The male Redwing, with his black uniform and scar- 
let epaulets, is a familiar inhabitant of our marshes, but 
many who know him are not acquainted 
aystenye haar Ree) with his very differently attired mate. 
She wears a costume which above is 
black streaked with buff and rust-color, and below is 
striped dingy black and white, and is much more retiring 
than her conspicuous husband. Her place is low in the 
bushes or among the reeds near the nest with its pale 
