374 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRliS 



manifested by the devotion and care witli which 

 they attend to their wants, and the spirit of bravery 

 they display in their defense. The young are fed 

 upon the caterpillars and aphides aforementioned, 

 besides spiders, ants, and small beetles; the latter 

 when they are more fully matured. The young 

 are 15 days old when they quit the nest. In 

 about 10 days more they are able to shift for them- 

 selves. 



As affirmed by Wilson, this Oriole is easily 

 reared from the nest, and in confinement becomes 

 very tame and familiar, A friend of ours kept 

 one in a cage for several years which whistled 

 with remarkable clearness and spirit. It was a 

 particular favorite with its owner, and learned to 

 come at his bidding; and at a given signal would 

 pour forth its choicest music with an energy and 

 power that were truly astonishing. 



The sociability of this species is remarkable, 

 and we have known instances where five nests 

 were found in the same orchard within a short 

 distance of each other, where the most perfect 



food-feeling and harmony prevailed. Mr. Audu- 

 on cites a case where no less than nine were 

 found in the same enclosure. The nests which 

 we have met yith in Pennsylvania, all compare in 

 composition with those which Dr. Brewer has seen 

 from Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, in 

 being homogeneous^ and composed of a flexible 

 kind of grass or reed. 



The eggs are oblong-oval, acuminate at one 



