THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 



{Icterus galbula.) 



There is a bird that comes and sings 



In the Professor's garden-trees ; 

 Upon the English oak he swings, 



And tilts and tosses in the breeze. 



I know his name, I know his note, 



That so with rapture takes my soul ; 

 Like flame the gold beneath his throat. 



His glossy cape is black as coal. 



— William Dean Howells, "The Song the Oriole Sings. 



Of all the beautiful birds which fre- 

 quent the more northern United States 

 during the summer season none is more 

 beautiful than the gaily plumaged Bal- 

 timore Oriole. It is not alone his bril- 

 liant plumage that attracts our atten- 

 tion, but also his entrancing song, his 

 active ways, his happy nature and his 

 love for the haunts of men. He seems 

 more a bird of the tropics which has 

 wandered from home. It is not so, 

 however, for he is not ''a stranger in a 

 strange land," but finds suitable places 

 in the shade and fruit trees of a north- 

 ern clime where his mate may swing 

 her pensile nest and rear their young. 



When the fruit trees are radiant with 

 blossoms the Baltimore comes to us 

 from the South. He arrives about a 

 week before his mate, she and her sis- 

 ters traveling more leisurely and in 

 flocks. While waiting for his mate and 

 from the very morning of his arrival 

 in the region of his summer home his 

 sweet and ringing song comes to us 

 from the trees of our dooryards and 

 orchards. The fresh, green foliage 

 forms a most perfect background for 

 the flashing orange and brilliant black 

 of the Baltimore's plumage, as he flies 

 from branch to branch or restlessly and 

 actively searches for insects among the 

 young leaves and twigs. He sings as 

 he works and, until the coming of the 

 ft-malcs he has some petty quarrels 

 with his fellows. 



]*'roni Ontario and IManitoba south- 



ward through the United States and 

 westward nearly to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains the Baltimore Orioles are well 

 known birds. The brilliant plumage of 

 the male makes him easy of identifica- 

 tion, but his mate is less well known. 

 Her plumage is very plain and would 

 hardly attract attention, yet she is a 

 beautiful bird. The general color of 

 her feathers is an orange olive and her 

 head and back are indistinctly spotted 

 and clouded with black. She always 

 seems happy and contented and is not 

 a mean, songster. She, too, is the builder 

 of their home, and she is a most won- 

 derful architect. Mr. Lowell has spoken 

 of the brilliant male as the "Winged 

 flame of Spring," and says that his 

 duty ''is but to love, and fly, and sing." 

 Mr. Chapman says : "There is reason 

 to believe that he is not unaware of his 

 own charms ; indeed, we may almost 

 suspect him of intentionally displaying 

 them." The flashing of his plumage as 

 he flies through the foliage has given 

 him the names Firebird, Golden Oriole 

 and Golden, Robin. 



The Orioles are quite late in arriving 

 at their more northern summer homes, 

 and they depart very early on their jour- 

 ney to their winter home in Central 

 America. Before the last of August, all 

 of these brilliant songsters have disap- 

 i:)cared from the northern portion of 

 their range. How well the lines of ]\Ir. 

 Lowell portray the vivacious nature of 

 these useful l)irds, which are contented 



'.irt 



