AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 57 



AN ORIOLE'S NEST. 



If one wishes to find birds of almost every species in their glory and 

 in the midst of their spring house-keeping let him spend the months 

 of May and June in Elkhart, Wisconsin. Baltimore Orioles were very 

 numerous and one of our chief joys there. To watch the whole recon- 

 struction of a last year's nest from a point of vantage under some 

 cedar trees only a few feet from the great elm from which the nest was- 

 swung, was a three days delight. That ones faces and necks were 

 scratched by the sharp pointed cedar twigs, ones hair pins loosened 

 and scattered, and ones position, back-breaking in the extreme, were 

 matters of absolutely no importance. 



We were fortunate enough to spy Mother Oriole from our piazza 

 whence she came to look over last year's home to see whether it 

 would admit of renovation for this year's family. She evidently decid- 

 ed in the affirmative and while she flew away for her first supplies we 

 scrambled under the nearest cedar trees and waited breathlessly for her 

 next move which proved to be not one more but a succession of the most 

 rapid pullings, peckings, and clawings of the old nest, a sort of archi- 

 tectural survey to decide upon the the best plan for transforming the 

 old home into a new. 



On her next sally from the tree she brought back a white string 

 which she fastened by the simplest, shuttle-like motions of her bill, to 

 the drooping sides of the nest. Then, bringing the string over a twig a 

 foot above the nest, she constructed, thereby, a veritable pulley, and 

 when the loose end of the string had been fastened also to the nest, 

 the result was a loop strong enough to secure the little home against 

 the chances of wind and weather. Mother Oriole's front door had to 

 be changed to suit the present position of the nest and hours were 

 spent in deftly weaving with that little nervous bill, a network of 

 threads and grass across the disused opening. Then she was obliged 

 to make over a hole caused by the tearing of outlying twigs during the 

 storms of the previous winter, into a presentable new entrance. 

 When we found she seemed not to object to our proximity, we returned 

 to send forth from hiding one of the smallest members of our group 

 to place strings and thread on a little stump close by. This she 

 immediately secured, adapting it to her uses with the most marvelous 

 dexterity. All her motions were so dainty and graceful and quick! 

 And yet one felt the power of determination and strength in the little 

 active body. 



Father Oriole in the meantime was the victim of our scorn: "Why 

 doesn't the lazy fellow help his wife ? He might at least furnish mater- 



