THE GOLDEN ORIOLE. 535 



" Many have stated to me, that the female lays first a single 

 egg, and that after having sat on it for some time, she lays 

 another; when the first is hatched, the warmth of that, it is 

 pretended, hatched the other. Whether this be correct or not, I 

 cannot determine ; but a very respectable gentleman of Virginia 

 assured me that he saw a large tree cut down, containing the 

 nest of a Bald Eagle, in which were two young, one of which 

 appeared nearly three times as large as the other. 



" As a proof of their attachment to their young, a person near 

 Norfolk informed me, that in clearing a piece of wood on his 

 place, they met with a large dead pine-tree, on which was a 

 Bald Eagle's nest and young. The tree being on fire more than 

 half-way up, and the flames rapidly ascending, the parent eagle 

 darted round and among the flames, until her plumage was so 

 much injured, that it was with difficulty she could make her 

 escape ; and even then she several times attempted to return, to 

 relieve her offspring." 



The bird next on our list is rather variable in its nesting. 



The Golden Oriole {Oriolus galbula) is seldom seen in 

 England, and its nest even more seldom. Every year, however, 

 a few stray nests are buUt in this country, as there are few years 

 in which the journals devoted to natural history do not contain a 

 notice of the bird being seen, and occasionally of its nest being 

 found. In the warmer parts of the Continent it is plentiful, and 

 in Italy is regularly exposed in the markets towards the middle 

 of autumn, when it has indulged in fruit for some time and has 

 become very plump and fat. 



In this condition it is well known to epicures under the name 

 of Becquafiga, corrupted into Beccafico. It is not easily procured, 

 as it is a very wary bird, and does not like to venture far from 

 covert. In the autunm, however, its love of fruit conquers its 

 fear of man, and it haunts the orchards in numbers, making no 

 small havoc among the fruit. Even under such circumstances 

 it is not easy of approach, and the gunner will seldom manage 

 to secure his prey except by imitating its peculiar and flute-like 

 notes. He must, however, be very careful in his mimiciy, for 

 the bird has a critical ear, and if it detects the imitator, is sure 

 to slip through the foliage and fly off to its forest stronghold. 



The nest of the Golden Oriole is always placed near the 



