ORCHARD ORIOLE. 223 



a return of attention. Their singings and tricks are performed with re- 

 doubled ardour, until they are paired, when nidification is attended to 

 with the utmost activity. They resort to the meadows, or search along 

 the fences for the finest, longest, and toughest grasses they can find, and 

 having previously fixed on a spot either on an Apple Tree, or amidst 

 the drooping branches of the Weeping Willow, they begin by attaching 

 the grass firmly and neatly to the twigs more immediately around the 

 chosen place. The filaments are twisted, passed over and under, and inter- 

 woven in such a manner as almost to defy the eye of man to follow their 

 windings. All this is done by the bill of the bird, in the manner used 

 by the Baltimore Oriole. The nest is of a hemispherical form, and 

 is supported by the margin only. It seldom exceeds three or four 

 inches in depth, is open almost to the full extent of its largest diameter 

 at the top or entrance, and finished on all sides, as well as within, with 

 the long slender grasses already mentioned. Some of these go round 

 the nest several times, as if coarsely woven together. This is the man- 

 ner in which the nest is constructed in Louisiana ; in the Middle Districts 

 it is usually lined with soft and warm materials. The female lays from 

 four to six eggs of a bluish-white tint, sprinkled with dark brown, and 

 raises only a single brood in the season. The young follow the parents 

 for several weeks, and many birds congregate towards autumn, but the 

 males soon separate from the females, and set out by themselves as they 

 arrived in spring. 



The sociality of the Orchard Oriole is quite remarkable, and in this 

 respect that bird differs widely from the Baltimore, which will not sufi^er 

 any other bird of its species to build a nest, or to remain within a con- 

 siderable distance from the spot which it has selected for its own ; whereas 

 many nests of the species now before you may be observed in the same 

 garden or orchard, and often within a few yards of the house. I have 

 counted as many as nine of these nests on a few acres of ground, and the 

 different pairs to which they belonged lived in great harmony. 



Although the food of the Orchard Orioles consists principally of in- 

 sects of various kinds, it is not composed exclusively of them. They are 

 fond of different sorts of fruits and berries. Figs are also much relished 

 by them, as well as mulberries and strawberries, but not to such a degree 

 as to draw the attention of the gardener or husbandman towards their 

 depredations. 



