THE ORCHARD ORIOLE'S NEST. 101 



where a circulation of air is so desirable), and the 

 appearance of the nest is likely to be rather shaggy 

 outside, though smooth within ; but having at the 

 same time a new clean look about it, different from 

 the domicile of almost every other bird. 



"With singular uniformity, the material everywhere 

 employed is a yellowish green grass (Poa only ?) , 

 often with the ripe blossomed heads left on, which is 

 woven and interwoven " as if done with a needle. " 

 In some cases there is a scanty lining of thistle, 

 cottonwood, cat-tail and ferns, wool, downy breast- 

 feathers of ducks, etc., forming a mat at the bottom. 

 About the nest the leaves are arranged artfully 

 — I use the word advisedly — to conceal the sitter, 

 and shield her from sun and rain. 



Such is the nest of this oriole as ordinarily pre- 

 sented to view. All writers agree in regard to it, 

 and Samuels alone -hints at any other than a more or 

 less perfectly pendulous nest. It appears, however, 

 that another style has been adopted in some parts of 

 the country by the orchard orioles, which have totally 

 abandoned the pensile idea. 



In Trenton, N. J., on Prospect Farm, the charming 

 country-house of Dr. C. C. Abbott, I saw these ori- 

 oles nesting in a group of pines in front of the house, 

 and also among the scraggy twigs of a buttonwood, 

 occupying the far ends of the large upper limbs, as 



