THE GOLDEN ORIOLE. 



{Icterus gularis gularis.) 



If we desire to' study the fifty or more 

 species and varieties of orioles we must 

 travel to the tropics for but few of these 

 usually richly colored birds fly as far 

 north as even the southern border of the 

 United States. Their colors are "sharply 

 contrasted areas of black and orange, 

 black and yellow, or black and chestnut; 

 never entirely black." The females, of 

 nearly all the species, and the young are 

 more plainly colored, shades of olive- 

 greenish prevailing. 



The Golden Oriole of our illustration, 

 also called the Gular and Lichtenstem's 

 Oriole, has apparently only a very lim- 

 ited range, being found in southwestern 

 Mexico and southward through Central 

 America to the northern part of South 

 America. 



An observer of this species states that 

 it searches for food in a manner very 

 similar to that of the Baltimore oriole 

 and while swinging from the smaller 

 branches of a tree, head downward, it 

 will look for insects upon the undersides 

 of the limbs. He also states that it has 

 a soft, flute-like note which to him 

 sounded somewhat like the word whae. 



The genus Icterus is one of the most 

 difficult of the genera of birds in which 



to satisfactorily separate and classify the 

 species. As a result, some of the species 

 contain many varieties. There is another 

 oriole which very closely resembles the 

 one we have illustrated, and it is consid- 

 ered a variety of the same species being 

 named Icterus gularis tamaulipenis. It is 

 the Alta Mira oriole and is found in east- 

 ern Mexico, and it has possibly been seen 

 in Louisiana, though Mr. Ridgway con- 

 siders it doubtful. This oriole is much 

 smaller and its colors are more intense 

 than are those of the Gular or Golden 

 Oriole of our picture. The orange color 

 is usually a very rich cadmium orange 

 and the bill is shorter and deeper through 

 the base. This variety is said to have 

 frequented the rice fields and fig trees in 

 southern Louisiana. So perfectly did the 

 description of these Louisiana specimens 

 agree with the characteristics of the 

 Gular Oriole that at least one authority 

 has given the habitat of the latter species 

 as including Louisiana. 



However, it matters little whether this 

 Oriole passes into the United States or 

 not. It is a bird of tropical regions, 

 where its brilliant plumage is greatly 

 enhanced by the wonderful greens of the 

 tropical foliage. 



THERE IS A SPIRIT IN THE WOODS. 



A pattering down from branch to bough 



Of acorn spilled from chiseled urn ; 

 A sudden rustle then and now 



As hanging dead leaves sway and turn; 

 A ghostly chatter from the oak; 



An unsprung twig in yon thick bush ; 

 A distant mocking, omened croak : — 



And then the forest's solemn hush. 



As walk we here in sentient moods 

 We feel a Spirit in the Woods. 



— Charles Elmer Jenney 



170 



