THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



Vol. 1. No. 9. GAINES, N. Y., JAN., 1885. 



i Published Monthly. 

 1 60c. Per Year. 



The Baltimore Oriole. 



There are several birds which are regu- 

 lar summer breeders here, and notablj' 

 among them the Baltimore Oriole, which 

 have a habit, or what lias been until verj^ 

 recently considered such, that is of peculiar 

 interest in the light of the recent investiga- 

 tion along the Mississippi valley in regard 

 to bird migration. 



This Oriole lireeds commonlj^ here in the 

 village among the tall elms that line our 

 streets. For many years it has been noticed 

 that just after the brood has been raised, 

 about the middle of July generally, the 

 Oriole leaves us. The vivacious songs are 

 heard no more, nor can a single bird be 

 seen even after careful seaech. 



This condition of things endures till 

 about the tirst of September, when suddenly 

 their well known song greets us again from 

 the elms. 



This disappearance during the last six 

 weeks of summer has been a puzzle to us 

 here, and many and various are the explana- 

 tions that have been given for it. 



Among others it was said by some that 

 the Oriole retired to the deep foi'est to raise 

 there a second brood of young ones after 

 the manner of the Robin, returning again 

 to theii' old haunts in September, previous 

 to their departure for the south. A study 

 of the Mississippi migration, however, 

 suggests an altogether different explana- 

 tion, and one, I believe, more in accord 

 with the facts of the case. 



It is not known that the Oriole rears a 

 second brood in its summer sojourn ; cer- 

 tainly this is not true of all of them. And 

 then these autumnal visitors are found to 

 frequent only the tops of the very highest 

 trees ; they are never seen among the bushes 

 and in the shrubbery that fringes the 

 streams and the river bank, which are 

 places of principal resort for the summer 



Orioles. In this and in every other way 

 they plainly exhibit a knowledge of the 

 locality, far too scanty to be consistent 

 with the supposition that they have already 

 reared a brood of young in the immediate 

 vicinity. They are merely wayside so- 

 journers, tarrying for a season on their 

 southward migration, a migration which 

 must have commenced far to the north- 

 ward. 



These September Orioles appear as the 

 advance guard of that body of their com- 

 panions, who, having summered and reared 

 their young in the extreme north of Maine 

 or in Canada, have now begun their annual 

 journey tovyard the south. And it will be 

 found that this migration commenced as 

 soon as the brood had been reared, for the 

 time of nesting is later of course in those 

 northern regions than with us. This sug- 

 gests also what became of our summer 

 Orioles. They migrated too, instead of 

 retiring to the woods, and the interval was 

 only the time between the nesting of our 

 Orioles and those farther north. The 

 Orioles are not the only birds that exhibit 

 this peculiarity, and probably the careful 

 study of migration, which has been under- 

 taken in the last two or three years, will 

 reveal the fact tliat all of our birds begin 

 their southward journey sooner than is 

 usually supposed and this will account for 

 their partial or total absence during the last 

 six weeks of summer. 



Chas. B. Wilsok, 

 Waterville, Me. 



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