THE WREN. 55 
It is the custom among birds, if they are not disturbed to return 
the next year to the same locality, and even build in the same tree. 
A pair of Orioles built in this same elm the next year. It was, 
however, not the same pair that built the year before; for the song 
of the male was mediocre in comparison. The typical song of the 
Oriole resembles this:— 
But there was one around our house last spring and spring before 
last that sang thus: 
A 
-9- ~~“ B- Sle 
———_ #2— te» [pare Taben omen Nene iesaNs sue 
— rig once soa eg Soa ora 
iS as acorrancare nem hn SOU A A a CER 
The Oriole is not so accommodating as the Chickadee or Field Spar- 
row, who, when you imitate their song will come into the trees above 
you and answer as long as you care to whistle. When you imitate 
the Oriole’s song he soon gets angry, and flies away. Once while 
standing on the sidewalk in front of our house one flew into an elm 
near by, and began to sing. I imitated him. Immediately he 
gave his scolding chatter. When I gave the call again he flew 
directly toward my head. I thought he was going to light on it; 
but he cleared it by about a foot, and lit on a low branch of a pear 
tree above me. When I again gave his call he seemed to be dis- 
gusted for he flew away. 
The female also has a song, and this fact was once instrumental 
in saving the life of one of them. It was on a day when I was in 
the back yard shooting English Sparrows. A bird lit in a tree 
close by. I thought at first it was a sparrow, but it looked rather 
large, and I thought I saw a little yellow on the bird when it alighted. 
I aimed and was about to shoot, when it occurred to me that the 
bird might be a female Oriole. So I gave the Oriole call, and to 
my surprise, I was answered immediately. The reply was different 
from any Oriole’s I had ever heard, and lacked some of the rich 
