BALTIMORE ORIOLE, 89 
looking sometimes almost like real hair, and occasionally lined 
only, and without the spots. The period of incubation is four- 
teen days. In Louisiana, according to Audubon, they fre- 
quently raise two broods in the season, arriving in that country 
with the opening of the early spring. Here they raise but a 
single brood, whose long and tedious support in their lofty 
cradle absorbs their whole attention; and at this interesting 
period they seem, as it were, to live only to protect, cherish, 
and educate their young. The first and general cry which the 
infant brood utter while yet in the nest, and nearly able to 
take wing, as well as for some days after, is a kind of #-did #- 
aid, te-did, kat-té-té-did, or’ télé’ te 'té tt ’t+-did, which becomes 
clamorous as the parents approach them with food. They soon 
also acquire the scolding rattle and short notes which they 
probably hear around them, such as peet-weet, the cry of the 
spotted Sandpiper, and others, and long continue to be assidu- 
ously fed and guarded by their very affectionate and devoted 
parents. Unfortunately, this contrivance of instinct to secure 
the airy nest from the depredations of rapacious monkeys, and 
other animals which frequent trees in warm or mild climates, 
is also occasionally attended with serious accidents, when the 
young escape before obtaining the perfect use of their wings. 
They cling, however, with great tenacity either to the nest or 
neighboring twigs ; yet sometimes they fall to the ground, and, 
if not killed on the spot, soon become a prey to numerous 
enemies. On such occasions it is painful to hear the plaints 
and wailing cries of the parents. And when real danger offers, 
the generous and brilliant male, though much the less queru- 
lous of the two, steps in to save his brood at every hazard ; and 
I have known one so bold in this hopeless defence as to suffer 
himself to be killed, by a near approach with a stick, rather 
than desert his offspring. Sometimes, after this misfortune, or 
when the fell cat has devoured the helpless brood, day after 
day the disconsolate parents continue to bewail their loss. 
They almost forget to eat amidst their distress, and after leav- 
ing the unhappy neighborhood of their bereavement, they still 
come, at intervals, to visit and lament over the fatal spot, as if 
