186 



VEllTEliliATA. 



C**:5 



Tlif ( MtiiiAuu-* >iii()i,K, y. spj<rj?/s, is six iiml :i Ii.ilf iuclios loiij;-; color bright bay ; hiail, neck, 

 hack, ami wiiiijs black , it feeds on crickets, g-rasshoppcrs, spiders, and larvae, and occasionally on 

 voiin"- fruits luid berries. It ImiMs its nest like the precedin<r, thoutfli it is not so pendulous, it 

 beiu" lirnilv attached ail around its niarnin. The eygs arc bluish-white, speckled ■with blown. 

 Thi-! species ranii;es from the cipiator to the State of Maine, though it is rare in Northern New 

 England ; at the south it is even more common than the golden iol)in. 



Beside these there are several other species in South America, some of which build their pend- 

 ulous nests in considerable numbers upon the 

 same tree. Mr. Edwards, in liis voyage up the 

 Amazon, saw forty -five nests in one small tree, 

 of the two species, Caclcus icteronotus and C. 

 hcemorr/io/ts. Some of them were two feet in 

 length, with an opening near the top. Tliese 

 were woven of grass, and one nest often de- 

 pended from another, so that the tree was 

 entirely covered and concealed, except only 

 some of the topmost branches. These nests 

 are built in this manner to protect them from 

 the snakes and monkeys that abound in these 

 hot climates. 



The Hed-winged Oriole, /. phmniceus^ 

 is seven and a half inches long, color black, 

 lesser tail-coverts red ; the female striate with 

 brown and whitish. It is called by the vari- 

 ous names of Sioamjj-Bluckbird, Rcd-ivinged 

 Blackbird, Red-winyed Starling, and Corn- 

 Thief. Its range is from Mexico to Nova 

 Scotia; it is migratory north of Maryland, 

 and stationary south of it. The nests are 

 built in swampy places, on low bushes, or in 

 a tussock of grass , the eggs are three to five, 

 white, tinged with blue, and marked with faint purple streaks ; two broods are produced in a 

 season ; the food consists of insects and their lar\'a3, and also green corn and wild rice, with other 



ORIOLE AND SERPENT IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



TUE RED-WIXGED BLACKBIRD. 



seeds. In September they gather in immense flocks, and often do great damage to the crops, 

 especially on the plantations of the Middle and Southern States near the sea-shore. During the 



