DESCRIPTIVE LIST 223 



with spots, specks, and irregular lines of various shades of brown. Size .78 x .56. 

 The nesting site is usually chosen among the terminal twigs of small shade or 

 orchard trees, but not infrequently a willow or ironwood growing near a stream is 

 selected. The height from the ground at which seven nests at Raleigh were built 

 ranged from seven to twenty feet. 



The Orchard Oriole is almost wholly insectivorous in its diet, and, as it is also a 

 very melodious singer, it is well deserving of human gratitude. It must be under- 

 stood, however, that simply preventing people from shooting birds will not alone 

 keep their numbers from decreasing, if we at the same time destroy their natural 

 feeding grounds without supplying a substitute. For instance, there was at one 

 time a large orchard of mulberry trees near Raleigh which was the favorite sum- 

 mer resort of numbers of birds. Later the orchard was destroyed, and the birds 

 also disappeared from the locality. 



208. Icterus galbula (Linn.}. BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 



Description; Ad. male. Head, neck, throat, and upper back black; breast, belly, lower back, 

 and lesser wing-coverts deep, rich, reddish orange; wings black, the outer margin of the greater 

 coverts and quills edged with white; end-half of middle tail-feathers black, base orange; all the 

 others orange, crossed by a black band in the middle. Ad. female. Upperparts brownish or 

 grayish orange, brighter on the rump; head and back mottled with black; wings fuscous, greater 

 and middle coverts tipped with white; tail like the rump, the middle feathers stained with black; 

 underparts dull orange, throat sometimes spotted with black. L., 7.53; W., 3.52; T., 2.84; B., 

 .70. (Chap., Birds of E. N. A.) 



Range. Eastern North America, breeding mainly north of North Carolina; winters in Mexico 

 and Central America. 



Range in North Carolina. Whole State sparingly during the migrations, breeding wholly or 

 mainly west of the Blue Ridge. 



FIG. 175. BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 



The Baltimore Oriole appears only as a rare migrant in the State, except in the 

 mountains, where it is not an uncommon summer bird west of the Blue Ridge. At 

 Raleigh it has been observed in late April, and at Durham and Chapel Hill in early 

 May, while in faH it has been seen at Raleigh only in late August and early Sep- 

 tember. 



This species builds a deep-woven purse-shaped nest, from vegetable or other 

 fibers, usually attached by the rim to the end of a long, drooping limb of a large 

 tree. In this structure, which is lined with any soft material readily found in the 

 neighborhood, the bird deposits four or five eggs, which much resemble those of the 

 Orchard Oriole. 



