1 82 American Birds 



top of the old house and hid it under a green cloth and 

 branches, and in this way got some snaps of him. While 

 we were waiting during the afternoon for chance shots at 

 the birds, I heard the challenging call of the male oriole 

 down at the other end of the orchard. 



During the next day we watched about the oriole's 

 nest ; both the birds were feeding the young, and the male 

 was not any wilder than the female. As the day wore 

 on the male seemed to be doing most of the feeding, 

 for the visits of the mother were less frequent. The nest 

 was made almost entirely of horsehair and the orioles 

 knew just how to use the material, for it was woven so 

 that the sides bulged out with the constituency of a hollow 

 rubber ball. But horsehair is often dangerous to birds. 

 I saw the father almost get caught in one of the hairs. 

 When he went to feed the young he put his head through 

 a loop in one of the hairs, and when he started to leave 

 he twisted the noose about his neck. He jerked back 

 several times to no avail, and then fortunately turned back 

 the same way, and the noose slipped over his head, ruffling 

 his feathers, and he was free. Had he not made the right 

 turn he would surely have hung himself. I know of sev- 

 eral cases where birds have been hung in this way. Horse- 

 hairs and strings are comparatively new things in bird 

 architecture and often cause trouble, just as in rapid flight 

 a bird in the city often strikes a telephone wire and is 

 killed by the force of the blow. 



The following day I again saw the flash of the in- 

 truding black and orange and the accustomed hot chase 

 through the orchard. In the afternoon I noticed that the 

 young orioles were fed entirely from the bill of the father. 



