322 THE ORCHARD ORIOLE. 



The Bronzed Grakle is a variety of the Purple. It breeds in Maine, and in Illinois it is 

 resident throughout the year. 



The Florida Grakle is much smaller, and seems to be conhned to the peninsula of Florida. 

 It is also regarded as a variety of tlie Purple Grakle. 



The Rusty Blackbird {ScolecopTiagus ferruglneiis) is a visitor in New England during 

 the spring and fall months, when migrating. In Virginia and southwards, these birds are very 

 abundant in the winter. They also extend westward. Occasionally they have been found 

 breeding in Maine. This blackbird is unsocial and retiring, and on that account is not often 

 seen. It visits the low, swampy thickets. 



Bkevver's Blackbird {Scolecophagus breweri), named for Dr. Brewer, the eminent 

 ornithologist of Boston, Massachusetts, is found on the high, western plains, and thence to the 

 Pacific, and southwards to California and Mexico. It is considerably larger than the preceding. 



HANG-NEST BIRDS. 



The Icterin^, or Hang-nest Birds, now claim our attention. These birds are remarkable 

 for the hammock-like nest which they construct, and the wonderful skill with whicli they 

 adapt its structure to the exigencies of the climate or locality. 



One of the most familiar examples of these birds is the Orchard Oriole, popularly 

 known by the title of Bobolink throughout the countries which it inhabits. 



This bird, in common with other allied species, is so extremely varied in its plumage, 

 according to its age and sex, that several sjDecies we^e confounded together in the most per- 

 plexing manner, until Wilson succeeded, by dint of patient observation, in unravelling tlie 

 tangled web which had been woven by other writers. 



The nest of the Orchard Oriole is a truly wonderful structure, woven into a bag or purse- 

 like shape from long grasses, almost as if it had l>een fashioned in a loom, and so firmly con- 

 structed that it will withstand no small amount of rough treatment before its texture gives 

 way. In one of these jjurse-like nests now lying before me, I find that the bird often employs 

 two and sometimes three threads simultaneously, and tliat several of these double threads pass 

 over the branch to which the nest is hung, and are then carried to the very bottom of the 

 purse, so as to support the structure in the firmest possible manner. The entrance is from 

 above, and near the mouth ; the nest is comparatively slight in texture, becoming thicker and 

 more compact near the foot, where the eggs and young are laid. The interior of the nest is 

 generally lined with some soft, downy seeds. So admirably does the bird's beak weave this 

 rernai'kaljle nest, that an old lady to whom Wilson exhibited one of these structures, remarked 

 that the Orchard Oriole might learn to darn stockings. 



The size and form of the nest may vary very greatly according to the climate in which the 

 bird lives, and the kind of tree on which its home is placed. Should the nest be suspended to 

 the firm, stiff boughs of the apple or other strong-branched tree, it is comparatively shallow, 

 being hardly three inches in length, and rather wider than it is deej). But if it should be 

 hung to the long and slender twigs of the weeping willow, as is often the case, the nest is 

 lengthened until it is four or five inches in depth, the size of the entrance remaining the same 

 as in the shallower nest. This variation in structure is evidently intended to prevent the eggs 

 or young from being shaken out of their home by the swaying of the boughs in the wind. 

 The same amount of lunteriMl appears to be used in either case, so that the elongated nest is 

 not so thick as the short one. My own specimen is an example of the elongated structure. 

 Moreover, in the wanner parts of America, the nest is always much slighter thiiii in the colder 

 regions, i^ermitting a- free circulation of air through its walls. 



The habits of this bird are very curious and interesting, and are well described by Wilson 

 in his well-known work on the Birds of America : — 



