94 The Birds of Albany County 



shoulder-straps you may be sure it is the Rusty. The female 

 is a slaty gray. 



Baltimore Oriole. — Icterus galbula. 7.50 



Very Common Summer Resident 



Field marks. — Head, throat, upper back, wings, and tail, 

 lustrous black; breast, belly, and lower back bright 

 orange; female much duller, the orange being replaced 

 by dull yellow. 



Its brilhant coloration and penchant for the elms of park 

 and village roadside have made the Baltimore Oriole fairly 

 well known to almost everyone. The species is extremely 

 abundant both in and all about Albany and is liable to remain 

 so, as the long, pendulous nests are generally placed so far out 

 on the lips of the slender, drooping branches that the small 

 boy cannot reach them, and the birds keep at such a height 

 most of the time that the cats rarely have any luck in dieir 

 direction. The Baltimore arrives here during the first week 

 in May, the sixth being the earliest date in my note-book. 

 Strangely, when they first get here from the South, the tops 

 of tall chestnut woods are their favorite foraging place for 

 several days. Then they like to enjoy a short period, flashing 

 about among the white bloom of the plum trees of the garden, 

 the males vj^ing with each other before the females, after 

 which, mating accomplished, the work of nest building is 

 begun. This structure is too well known to require description, 

 and almost every one has heard the musical peeping of the 

 young after they get old enough to cry for food. Perhaps 



