Plate I. 



ICTERUS BALJIMORE-Baliimore Oriole. 



The Baltimore Oriole arrives in Ohio between the middle of April and the first o£ May. A fort- 

 night later the bird can be seen busily engaged in the construction of the nest. 



LOCALITY: 



The elm, with its tough, pendant branches and close foliage, is pre-eminently the fittest of all our 

 forest trees to receive, supj^ort and conceal this model of bird architecture. Other trees, however, are 

 often occupied, such as the maple, oak, hickory and poplar, but the majority of nests in Ohio are, ac- 

 cording to our observation, built in elms. No condition of soil or surrounding timber seems to be 

 preferred above another; the elm is the favorite tree, be it beside a village street, in a dense forest, or 

 an open field. 



POSlTlOIsr: 



The typical nest is truly pensile, and is suspended from the extreme branches of an overhanging 

 limb, where, shaded from the sun by the leaves above, it rocks to the gentlest breeze. At other times 

 it is fastened to a perpendicular limb of considerable size, where the smaller branches put forth. 

 Between these two positions various others are common and constantly met with; no two nests being 

 hung in exactly the same manner. The distance from the ground varies from four to seventy feet. 



MATERIALS: 



During the period of nidification, any substance combining the proper length, thickness and strength 

 is in demand; consequently the materials of construction are almost without number, and depend to a 

 great extent upon locality. 



In the Avoods, long grasses, strips of bark and vegetable fibres of different kinds make up the struc- 

 ture; but in cities and villages, or in the country, near houses, yarn, Avrapping-twine, horse and cow 

 hairs, rags, paper and such other substances as are ready prepared and accessible, are largely used. 

 The lining is generally of hairs, vegetable down, and fibres. 



The cavity varies in depth from two and three-fourths to six inches; inside diameter at the mouth, 

 tVom two and three-fourths to three and three-fourths inches, increasing slightly near the bottom. 



EGGS: 



The complement of eggs is from four to six. They mccisure 1.05 x. 70 to .80x.50; average, about 

 .92 x .60. When blown, the ground is white, with the brightness dimmed by the faintest bluish or pink- 

 ish tint, and marked Avith dots, lines, scraAvls and blotches of dark brown or black, usually distributed 

 irregularly over the surface; but often thickest about the crown, forming a Avreath. 



The deep shell markings look as if most of the coloring matter had been washed off, and the re- 

 maining had soaked in, making the outline indistinct. 



41 



