WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



It sometimes happens, however, that orioles will 

 pick to pieces an old nest to get materials for a new 

 one, just as the Indians of Peru often construct 

 their huts of the cut-stone blocks of the ancient 

 palaces of the Incas. These birds are very know- 

 ing in gathering stuff for the frame-work of their 

 homes, and perceive the adaptability to their needs 

 of the housewife's yarn and laces, hung out to dry, 

 much sooner than they perceive the immorality of 

 stealing them. White cotton strings are rarely 

 absent from their nests, which are sometimes al- 

 most entirely composed of them. Some curious 

 anecdotes have been related of this economical 

 propensity and its results; Nuttall tells the follow- 

 ing: "A female, which I observed attentively, 

 carried off to her nest a piece of lamp-wick ten or 

 twelve feet long. This long string and many 

 other shorter ones were left hanging out for about 

 a week before both ends were wattled into the sides 

 of the nest. Some other little birds, making use 

 of similar materials, at times twitched these flow- 

 ing ends, and generally brought out the busy Bal- 

 timore from her occupation in great anger." 



A gentleman in Pennsylvania, observing an ori- 

 ole beginning to build, hung out " skeins of many- 

 colored zephyr yarn, which the eager artist readily 



260 



