I 356 



PASSERES.- 



-BIRDS. STURSID.K. 



like fabric. This pouch, winch is six or seven inches 

 in depth, is lined with soft substances, firmly inter- 

 woven with the outer coat, and the interior is finished 

 with a layer of horsehair. The opening, which is at 

 the top of the nest, is generally sufficiently protected 

 by the overhanging leaves ; but sometimes it is fur- 

 nished with a horizontal cover. Almost any fibrous 

 material seems to be welcome to this ingenious little 

 weaver, when engaged in the construction of its nest ; 

 skeins of silk and hanks of thread are often carried off 

 and worked into the edifice, and even the bits of soft 

 band with which gardeners fasten their grafts and 

 buds are sometimes purloined and used in the same 

 manner. The eggs are five in number, of a pinkish 

 white colour, marked at the larger end with purple 

 dots, and on the rest of the surface with fine, irregu- 

 larly intersecting, hair- like lines. The food of this 

 bird consists principally of insects. 



THE ORCHARD OBIOLE (Icte.rus spurius), a species 

 nearly allied to the preceding, is, like it, a migratory 

 bird, visiting the United States in the spring, and 

 remarining there through the summer, when it takes its 

 departure for the warm regions of the south. The 

 male has the head, neck, breast, upper part of the back, 

 wings, and tail black ; the rest of the plumage bright 

 chestnut. The female is of a yellowish-olive colour, 

 with the back and wings brownish. The length of the 

 bird is about six inches and a half. 



The Orchard Oriole feeds principally upon cater-' 

 pillars, grubs, and other insects ; arid hence, although 

 he may sometimes plunder the farmer of his produce, 

 his residence in the orchard, where he prefers taking 

 up his abode, must be regarded as highly beneficial. 

 Like the Baltimore bird, he constructs a pendent nest, 

 usually suspending it from the twigs of an apple-tree. 

 The nest is composed of a long, tough grass, " knit, or 

 sewed through in a thousand directions, as if actually 

 done with a needle." Wilson says that an old lady to 

 whom he showed one of these nests, began to speculate 

 on the possibility of teaching the bird to darn stockings ! 

 The nest is hemispherical, and about four inches in 

 diameter by three inches in depth. When the bird 

 selects the long pendent branches of the weeping 

 willow for the support of its nest, the latter is made 

 much deeper, and attached to several of the drooping 

 twigs, which then hang down all round it, and effec- 

 tually conceal it by their foliage. The eggs are gene- 

 rally four in number, of a very pale bluish tint, sparingly 

 speckled with brown and spotted with purple. 



THE CHESTED ORIOLE (Cassicus cristatus). This 

 bird, with some nearly allied species, is distinguished 

 from the other members of this family, by having the 

 base of the bill produced upwards on the forehead in 

 the form of a disc. It is about the size of a magpie, 

 and is of a black colour, with a loose crest of reddish 

 feathers on the back of the head, the rump and vent 

 reddish, and the outer tail feathers yellow. The bill 

 is yellow, and the feet are black. 



The Crested Oriole is an inhabitant of Cayenne and 

 various parts of South America. It constructs a pen- 

 sile nest, composed of various vegetable fibres well 

 interwoven, forming a large pouch measuring about 

 three feet in length and ten inches in diameter at its 



lowest part ; the entrance is at the top, and the bottom 

 is furnished with a thick bed of dry leaves. This bird 

 is less sociable than some of its congeners ; for D'Azara 

 mentions six as the greatest number of nests of this 

 species that he ever saw on the same tree, whilst Mr. 

 Edwards, on his voyage up the Amazon, saw no less 

 than forty-five nests of two other species (C. icteronotus 

 and C. hcemorrhous) suspended from a single tree. 

 These nests were about two feet in length, and hung so 

 close together as to leave only a small portion of the 

 top of the tree visible. 



THE RED-WINGED STARLING (Agelaius phceniceus}. 

 This bird, which, like the Purple Grakle, is most 

 destructive to the corn-crops of the United States, is 

 migratory in its habits, dwelling during the winter in 

 immense flocks in the southern states, and advancing 

 into the northern parts of the Union in the spring. The 

 male Red-winged Starling is about nine inches in length; 

 his plumage is glossy black, with the lesser wing-coverts 

 scarlet. The female is nearly two inches shorter than 

 her partner; she is black, mottled with pale brown 

 and white above, and streaked with black and white 

 beneath. In their winter quarters these birds find an 

 abundant supply of food in the gleanings of the rice and 

 cornfields ; during the summer they are engaged in the 

 business of incubation and bringing up their broods ; 

 but towards the commencement of September they 

 are at leisure to commence their work of devastation 

 amongst the Indian corn, the ears of which are then 

 in a succulent, milky state, presenting an irresistible 

 temptation to these and many other birds. Collecting 

 in great flocks, the starlings then descend upon the 

 fields, tear off the leafy coats with which the ears are 

 protected, and soon clear out the young grain, leaving 

 nothing but the chaffy cobs to the luckless proprietor 

 of the field. It is to be observed, however, that this 

 bird, like many other celebrated depredators, must be 

 regarded as in some measure earning a right to his 

 share of the farmer's produce by the multitude of grubs, 

 caterpillars, and other insects, which he destroys during 

 the breeding season, and of which Wilson justly remarks 

 that their " secret and insidious attacks are more to be 

 dreaded by theiimsbandman than the combined forces 

 of the whole feathered tribes together." 



The male Red-winged Starling has a short song, in 

 which the notes conk-quer-ree are most common; when 

 taken from the nest, it is easily tamed, and may even 

 be taught to pronounce a few words. Its nest is usually 

 built in a thicket of alder bushes in a damp or marshy 

 situation, and sometimes in a tussock of grass, or even 

 on the ground ; it is composed of rushes and coarse 

 grass, and lined with fine bents. The eggs are gene- 

 rally five in number, and of a pale blue colour, marked 

 with black lines and dashes. 



THE COW-PEN BIRD (Molothrus pecans'), also called 

 the Cow-BraxiXG, is remarkable in this group of birds 

 for its habit of depositing its egg in the nest of some 

 other bird, like our cuckoo. It is a migratory bird, 

 making its appearance in the middle states of the 

 American Union at the end of March or the beginning 

 of April ; it passes the winter in the southern states. 

 The name of Cow-pen Bird given to this species is due 

 to its habit of frequenting the inclosures in which cattle 



