552 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



" The nest of this species is generally fixed on a very large and 

 lofty tree, often in a swamp or morass, and difficult to be ascend- 

 ed. On some noted tree of this description, often a pine or cy- 

 press, the Bald Eagle builds, year after year, for a long series of 

 years. When both male and female have been shot from the nest, 

 another pair has soon after taken possession. The nest is large, 

 being added to and repaired every season, until it becomes a black 

 prominent mass, observable at a considerable distance. It is form- 

 ed of large sticks, sods, earthy rubbish, hay, moss, etc. 



" Many have stated to me that the female lays first a single 

 egg, and that, after having sat on it for some time, she lays an- 

 other ; when the first is hatched, the warmth of that, it is pretend- 

 ed, hatched the other. Whether this be correct or not I can not 

 determine, but a very respectable gentleman of Virginia assured 

 me that he saw a large tree cut down, containing the nest of a 

 Bald Eagle, in which were two young, one of which appeared 

 nearly three times as large as the other. 



" As a proof of their attachment to their young, a person near 

 Norfolk informed me that, in clearing a piece of wood on his 

 place, they met with a large dead pine-tree on which was a Bald 

 Eagle's nest and young. The tree being on fire more than half 

 way up, and the flames rapidly ascending, the parent eagle dart- 

 ed round and among the flames until her plumage was so much 

 injured that it was with difficulty she could make her escape, and 

 even then she several times attempted to return to relieve her 

 offspring." 



The bird nest on our list is rather variable in its nesting. 



The Golden Oriole (Oriolus galbula) is seldom seen in En- 

 gland, and its nest even more seldom. Every year, however, a 

 few stray nests are built in this country, as there are few years in 

 which the journals devoted to natural history do not contain a 

 notice of the bird being seen, and occasionally of its nest being 

 found. In the warmer parts of the Continent it is plentiful, and 

 in Italy is regularly exposed in the markets toward the middle of 

 autumn, when it has indulged in fruit for some time, and has be- 

 come very plump and fat. 



In this condition it is well known to epicures under the name 

 of Becquafiga, corrupted into Beccafico. It is not easily procured, 

 as it is a very wary bird, and does not like to venture far from 

 covert. In the autumn, however, its love of fruit conquers its fear 



