62 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



through the green leaves, resembling a flash of fire,) &c. 

 but more generally the Baltimore-bird, so named, as 

 Catesby informs us, from its colours, which are black and 

 orange, being those of the arms or lively of Lord Balti- 

 more, formerly proprietary of Maryland. 



The Baltimore Oriole is seven inches in length; bill 

 almost straight, strong, tapering to a sharp point, black, 

 and sometimes lead coloured above, the lower mandible 

 light blue towards the base. Head, throat, upper part of 

 the back and wings, black; lower part of the back, rump, 

 and whole under parts, a bright orange, deepening into 

 vermillion on the breast; the black on the shoulders is also 

 divided by a band of orange; exterior edges of the greater 

 wing-coverts, as well as the edges of the secondaries, and 

 part of those of the primaries, white; the tail feathers, un- 

 der the coverts, orange; the two middle ones thence to 

 the tips are black, the next five, on each side, black near 

 the coverts, and orange toward the extremities, so disposed, 

 that when the tail is expanded, and the coverts removed, 

 the black appears in the form of a pyramid, supported on 

 an arch of orange, tail slightly forked, the exterior feather 

 on each side a quarter of an inch shorter than the others; 

 legs and feet light blue or lead colour; iris of the eye, 

 hazel. 



The female has the head, throat, upper part of the neck 

 and back, of a dull black, each feather being skirted with 

 olive yellow, lower part of the back, rump, upper tail- 

 coverts, and whole lower parts, orange yellow, but much 

 duller than that of the male; the whole wing feathers are 

 of a deep dirty brown, except the quills, which are exte- 

 riorly edged, and the greater wing-coverts, and next supe- 

 rior row, which are broadly tipt, with a dull yellowish 

 white; tail olive yellow; in some specimens the two mid- 

 dle feathers have been found partly black, in others wholly 

 so; the black on the throat does not descend so far as in 

 the male, is of a lighter tinge, and more irregular; bill, 

 legs, and claws, light blue. 



Buffon, and Latham, have both described the male of 

 the bastard Baltimore, (Or-iolus spurius,) as the female 

 Baltimore. Pennant has committed the same mistake; and 

 all the ornithologists of Europe, with whose works I am 

 acquainted, who have undertaken to figure and describe 

 these birds, have mistaken the proper males and females, 

 and confounded the two species together in a very con- 

 fused and extraordinary manner, for which indeed we 

 ought to pardon them, on account of their distance from 

 the native residence of these birds, and the strange altera- 

 tions of colour which the latter are subject to. 



Almost the whole genus of Orioles belong to America, 

 and with a few exceptions build pensile nests. Few of 

 them, however, equal the Baltimore in the construction of 



these receptacles for their young, and in giving them, in 

 such a superior degree, convenience, warmth, and secu- 

 rity. For these purposes he generally fixes on the high 

 bending extremities of the branches, fastening strong 

 strings of hemp or flax round two forked twigs, correspond- 

 ing to the intended width of the nest; with the same ma- 

 terials, mixed with quantities of loose tow, he interweaves 

 or fabricates a strong firm kind of cloth, not unlike the 

 substance of a hat in its raw state, forming it into a pouch 

 of six or seven inches in' depth, lining it substantially with 

 various soft substances, well interwoven with the outward 

 netting, and lastly, finishes with a layer of horse hair; the 

 whole being shaded from the sun and rain by a natu- 

 ral pent-house, or canopy of leaves. As to a hole being 

 left in the side for the young to be fed, and void their ex- 

 crements through, as Pennant and others relate, it is cer- 

 tainly an error: I have never met with any thing of the 

 kind in the nest of the Baltimore. 



Though birds of the same species have, generally speak- 

 ing, a common form of building, yet, contrary, to the 

 usually received opinion, they do not build exactly in the 

 same manner. As much difference will be found in the 

 style, neatness, and finishing of the nests of the Baltimores, 

 as in their voices. Some appear far superior workmen to 

 others; and probably age may improve them in this as it 

 does in their colours. I have a number of their nests now 

 before me, all completed, and with eggs. One of these, 

 the neatest, is in the form of a cylinder, of five inches 

 diameter, and seven inches in depth, rounded at bottom. 

 The opening at top is narrowed, by a horizontal covering, 

 to two inches and a half in diameter. The materials are 

 flax, hemp, tow, hair, and wool, woven into a complete 

 cloth; the whole tightly sewed through and through 

 with long horse hairs, several of which measure two 

 feet in length. The bottom is composed of thick tufts of 

 cow hair, sewed also with strong horse hair. This nest 

 was hung on the extremity of the horizontal branch of an 

 apple-tree, fronting the south-east; was visible one hundred 

 yards off, though shaded by the sun; and was the work of 

 a very beautiful and perfect bird. The eggs are five, white, 

 slightly tinged with flesh colour, marked on the greater 

 end with purple dots, and on the other parts with long 

 hair-like lines, intersecting each other in a variety of di- 

 rections. I am thus minute in these particulars, from a 

 wish to point out the specific difference between the true 

 and bastard Baltimore, which Dr. Latham and some others 

 suspect to be only the same bird in different stages of 

 colour. 



So solicitous is the Baltimore to procure proper mate- 

 rials for his nest, that, in the season of building, the women 

 in the country are under the necessity of narrowly watch- 



