Man the Destroyer. 



pressing open the bill with great muscular 

 force, in the manner of an opening pair of 

 compasses, he contrived, if the force was 

 not great, to open the hand and examine 

 its contents. If brought to the face he did 

 the same with the mouth, and would try 

 hard to open the closed teeth. In this way, 

 by pressing open any yielding interstice, he 

 could readily insert the threads of his nest, 

 and pass them through an infinity of open- 

 ings, so as to form an ingenious network 

 or basis of his suspensory and procreant 

 cradle." 



Two Orioles which we once had in con- 

 finement were fed, as very young birds, 

 partly on bread and milk and partly on 

 raw beef finely minced. They throve 

 excellently, and as soon as they were 

 able to feed themselves, their bill of fare 

 was enlarged so as to include boiled rice, 

 raisins and dried figs, of both of which fruits 

 they were very fond. They grew to be 

 fine, strong, healthy birds, but that same 

 autumn circumstances made it necessary 

 that they should be set free, so that there 

 was no opportunity for making any ex- 

 tended observations on their habits in con- 

 finement. 



After the brood is reared and the young 

 birds have become strong and well able to 

 look out for themselves, the Orioles begin 

 preparations for their southern migrations. 

 They usually leave New England in Sep- 



tember, and go away one by one, or at most 

 only a few together. The males have 

 ceased their cheery whistle, and the birds 

 seem to wish to shun observation, flitting 

 quietly along the hedgerows and through 

 the woods, seldom noticed except by the 

 ornithologist. 



As has been said, the winter home of 

 the Oriole is beyond our borders. In sum- 

 mer it is found all over the United States 

 east of the Rocky Mountains, and north 

 well into the British Provinces. It is a 

 bird of strong local attachments, and may 

 sometimes be found abundant in one dis- 

 trict and quite rare or even absent from an- 

 other neighboring section. 



The Baltimore Oriole is about seven and 

 a half inches long. In the full-plumaged 

 male the head, neck, throat, back, wings 

 and part of the tail are black. The other 

 parts are orange. The two middle tail 

 feathers are black, and those outside of 

 these are part black toward the body and 

 part orange toward the tips. There are 

 two lines of white on the wings. The bill 

 is bluish-black. The feet and legs are lead 

 color. The female is everywhere paler and 

 duller than the male. Where he is black 

 she is grayish-yellow, except on the wings, 

 which are brownish-black, and where he is 

 orange she is olive-yellow. The males do 

 not attain their full beauty of plumage 

 until the third year. 



MAN THE DESTROYER. 



IT is stated that the quagga, the beauti- 

 ful wild striped ass of South Africa, 

 has suddenly ceased to exist. The boot- 

 makers of London and New York wanted 

 his skin for a particular kind of sportsman's 

 boot, and he consequently passed away out 

 of zoology. There may be a few left on 

 the highest and wildest plateaus, but the 

 Boers, tempted by the high prices, have ex- 

 tirpated the herds which only ten years ago 

 existed in South Africa. That will be the 



fate of the elephant, too. There will soon 

 not be a bird of paradise on earth, and the 

 ostrich has only been saved by private 

 breeders. Man will not wait for the cool- 

 ing of the world to consume everything 

 in it, from teak trees to humming-birds, 

 and a century or two hence will find himself 

 perplexed by a planet in which there is 

 nothing except what he makes. He is a 

 poor sort of creator. — The Spectator {Lon- 

 don, England). 



