BALTIMORE ORIOLE 91 



appearance has been between May 8 and 

 12, in four of the nine seasons the arrival 

 having been on May 9. The males precede 

 the females, although sometimes they are 

 but a single day in advance. 



Two or three pairs have proved to be the 

 quota each season for the Garden. But in 

 1908 four nests were constructed. Other 

 pairs nest on the Common. On one occa- 

 sion, May n, 1905, seven males and three 

 females were present together. The extra 

 males, however, retired, as but three nests 

 were built. Usually no more are present 

 upon any day than have come to remain. 

 The nest-building follows quickly after the 

 arrival of the females. 



In 1908 a female Oriole started her nest 

 upon a slender bough of an elm on the Bea- 

 con Street mall, but she was rudely frus- 

 trated in her home-making by a pair of 

 house sparrows, which so assiduously built 

 upon the half-made nest of the Oriole as a 

 foundation that she could not proceed with 

 her more delicate and painstaking weaving 

 and was forced to select another site. 



