i38 



THE OECHAED OEIOLE. 



The Icteein^, 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 which they 

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



One of the most familiar examples of these birds is the Orchaed Oeiole, popularly 

 known by the title of Bob o' Link throughout the countries which it inhabits. 



This bird, in common with 

 otlier allied species, is so extremely 

 varied in its plumage according 

 to its age and sex, that several 

 species were confounded together 

 in the most perplexing manner, 

 until Wilson succeeded, by dint of 

 patient observation, in unravelling 

 the tangled web which had been 

 woven by other writers. 



The nest of the Orchard Oriole 

 is a truly wonderful sti'ucture, 

 woven into a bag or purse-like 

 shape from long grasses, almost 

 as if it had been fashioned in a 

 loom, and so firmly constructed 

 that it will withstand no small 

 amount of rough treatment before 

 its texture gives way. In one of 

 these purse-like nests now lying 

 before me, I find that the bird 

 often employs two and sometimes 

 three threads simultaneously, and 

 that several of these double 

 threads pass over the branch to 

 which the nest is hung, and arc 

 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 re- 

 markable 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 

 deep. 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 th(j 

 entrance remaining the same as in the shallower nest. This variation in structure is 



ORCHARD ORIOLE.— Xanthornis vdrius. 



