THE SUNNY SOUTH OOLOGIST, 



Yol. 1. No. 3. 



Gainesville, Texas, May, 1886. 



Published Monthly, 

 50 Cents per Tear. 



[For the Sunny South Oologist.] 



THE ORIOLES. 



(Icterninae .) 



The Genera of birds are remarkable for 

 their beautiful plumage, and the ingenious 

 manner in which they construct their nests. 

 The bill is of medium length and conical, 

 both mandibles are of equal length, and the 

 toes are calculated for perching and grasp- 

 ing. Their peculiar mode of nest building- 

 renders this necessary. They feed chiefly 

 on insects which they glean from the foliage 

 and branches of trees. The majority of 

 these birds are residents of more tropical 

 climates — only two species, the Baltimore and 

 the Orchard Orioles, being summer visitants 

 of Ontario, and the latter of these confines its 

 visits to the south and Lake Erie regions of 

 this province. 



THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 

 (Icterus Baltimore.) 

 The male of this species is noted for the 

 beauty of his plumage, and his mellow notes, 

 and the female for the ingenuity that she 

 displays in the formation of her nest. The 

 male is seven inches in length, the head, 

 throat, and upper parts of the wings are 

 black, the whole under part are of a bright 

 orange hue, deepening into vermillion on the 

 breast, the back is also crossed by an orange 

 band ; the plumage of the female is similarly 

 marked but the hue is dull. The food of 

 this species consists chiefly of insects, such 

 as beetles, bugs, small moths, various cat- 

 terpillars, and also earth worms; it doubtless 

 also occasionally feeds on small ripe fruit. 

 Its song is a clear, mellow whistle, repeated 

 as it gleans among the green foliage of the 

 trees and bushes, where the greater portion 

 of its time is spent. There is in these notes 

 a certain playfulness and vivacity which to 

 the interested listener is very pleasing, as it is 

 not uttered with the rapidity of some more 

 melodious songsters, but rather pleasing 

 tranquility of a careless school-boy, perform- 

 ing for his own amusement. When alarmed, 



or when anything approaches that he regards 

 ns an enemy, he makes a rapid twittering, 

 very different to his usual notes. This 

 species appears to inhabit the greater part of 

 temperate North America. It is not a resident 

 of the backwoods, or new settlements of 

 Canada, but prefers the orchards, groves, 

 shade trees, and margins of the woods in the 

 older settled districts where, during the sum- 

 mer months, the beautiful plumage and art- 

 less manners of the male bird renders it, in 

 the hours of recreation, an attractive study 

 for the labors of ornithology. This bird is 

 also bold and courageous, and while the fe- 

 male attends to her nesting duties, the male 

 makes no hesitation in attempting to drive 

 off all intruders of the feathered race; and 

 should he not succeed himself, the female 

 comes to his assistance; or he will keep on 

 the watch until he can unite with the King, 

 or Blackbird, in a general attack, whether 

 the foe is a crow, or some species of the 

 hawk family. 



Its nest, a purse-like structure, is generally 

 suspended among the drooping branches of 

 trees that stand on the margin of the woods, 

 overhanging a water-course, or that have 

 been planted for the purpose of shade, sur- 

 rounding farm dwellings, or in the streets of 

 towns and even cities. The eggs, five to 

 seven in the set, are of a creamy-white color, 

 marbled over the surface with streaks and 

 dots, of a blackish-purple hue. The nest of 

 the Oriole is one of the wonders of bird 

 architecture. Whether we contemplate it as 

 the work exclusively of instinct, or whether 

 memory and judgment are brought into 

 requisition, it is a study worthy of the nat- 

 uralist. The favorite trees for her nest arc 

 the weeping willow, elm, and maple. The 

 smaller branches of these trees are pendant, 

 and she begins by uniting two or three twigs 

 together with a cord, so as to be like a small 

 hoop, and to this she suspends the frame 

 work. The nest, when complete, will re- 

 semble a long., narrow pocket, open at the 

 top, and six or eight inches in length. The 



