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 Subgenus — Yphantes. Baltimore Oriole. 



507. Baltimore Oriole, hang-nest, golden robin, fb. — le loriot (ou l'obiol) de 

 Baltimore. Icterus galbula. L, 7-53. Plate XXVII B. 



Distinctions. Coloration. 



Field Marks. The striking flashes of golden orange and the rich contralto voice are 

 absolute identification marks. The species can be confused only with extralimital forms. 



Nesting. The nest of the Baltimore Oriole is one of the avian curiosities. It is in the 

 form of a bag woven of fibres, plant-down, hairs, and string, and hangs from the end of long, 

 drooping branches. With her sharp, awl-like bill the female Oriole thrusts a fibre into the 

 side of the nest, then reaching over to the inside pulls it through, tugging to make all tight 

 and solid, another fibre is thrust in and the process repeated until when complete the nest 

 is so knitted, woven, and felted together that though tossed at the end of long flexible 

 whip-like branch tips through summer and winter storms, it remains intact for several 

 years. 



Distribution. Eastern North America north to the bounds of dense settlement. 



Open country with scattered groves and occasional large isolated elms 

 is the ideal habitat of the Baltimore Oriole. It obtains its name from 

 its brilliant orange and black livery, the colours of Lord Baltimore, under 

 whose patronage the state of Maryland was first settled and in whose 

 honour the bird was named by the early settlers. 



Economic Status. The food of the Oriole consists mostly of insects, 

 including, in order of numbers, caterpillars, click-beetles, of which the 

 pestilent wireworms are the larvae, May beetles, and grasshoppers. Very 

 few predaceous beetles are taken. The amount of vegetable matter is 

 small. This species, therefore, ranks very high as an insect destroyer. 

 Complaints are sometimes made that the Oriole spoils fruit, and it has 

 been accused of puncturing grapes for the juice. It is not the amount 

 which it takes that is objected to but the quantity of fruit that is spoiled, 

 for it goes from bunch to bunch puncturing many and consuming few. 

 This, however, seems to be a very local and perhaps an individual habit 

 and except in vine country is of comparatively small importance. In 

 Canada, the Baltimore Oriole leaves shortly after mid-August and before 

 the autumn fruit season is well advanced, so that grapes are usually too 

 green to attract it. Hence, though it cannot be wholly exonerated from 

 the charges made against it, the damage it does in Canada has certainly 

 been greatly exaggerated. The good the bird does is constant and import- 

 ant, the harm is occasional and slight. 



Genus— Euphagus. Rusty Blackbirds. 



509. Rusty Blackbird, busty gbackle. pe. — le mainate couletjb de bouille. 

 Euphagus carolinus. L, 9-55. About the size of a Red-wing, but all black with green 

 reflections and with straw-coloured eyes. In the autumn the feathers are broadly edged 

 with rusty, lighter on the crown and head. The female is a nearly evenly dark grey bird 

 with traces of rusty marks in spring, much more extensive in both sexes in autumn when 

 they form a well-defined, reddish cap and a light eyebrow line. 



Distinctions. Small size compared with the Crow Blackbird, the only other comparable 

 species with light-coloured eyes; even blackness or rusty overwash tending towards a light 

 line over the eye, and straw-coloured eye. 



Field Marks. Size, coloration, and straw-coloured eyes. 



Nesting. In coniferous trees or on the ground, in nest of grasses or moss. 



Distribution. Eastern and northern North America; usually breeding just north of 

 the cultivated areas in Canada. 



