148 



KEY AND DESCRIPTION 



breast. The female is olive-green above, dull-yellow belo-w, 

 and has blackish wings, with two whitish wing bars. The 

 olive-green is very bright on the head and rump. The young 

 male begins to get the black on the throat during his second 

 year ; the under parts have a few spots of chestnut in the yel- 

 low. As its name indicates, it is generally to be found among 

 orchard trees, but any separated trees of our lawns and parks 

 suit it as well. It is an active, frolicsome bird, and a wonder- 

 fully sweet singer of short, rich, and flexible notes. Like the 

 next species, it weaves its nest of fibrous material, and sus- 

 pends it near the extremity of a limb, but makes it of a more 

 globular form. 



Length, b\-l\ ; wing, 2|—3i ; tail, 2i-3| ; tarsus, | ; oulmen, |. United 

 States from the Plains eastward ; breeding from the Gulf of Mexico to 

 Ontario, and wintering south of the United States to northern South 

 America. 



7. Baltimore Oriole (507. Icterus gdlbula). — A beautiful 

 orange-red-bodied bird, with black head, up]3er back, and wings. 



The tail is orange, 

 with some black 

 near the base, and 

 the wings have some 

 white on the coverts 

 and quills. The fe- 

 inale is dull-orange 

 below, mottled 

 brown on the up- 

 per part including 

 wings and head ; 

 rump and tail yel- 

 lowish and wing 

 bars white. This bird weaves a wonderful hanging nest of 

 fibers, which it usually places near the ends of limbs twenty to 

 forty feet from the ground. The song is an agreeable one of 

 five to ten rich, mellow, though rather shrill notes. (Firebird ; 

 Hangnest; Golden "Kobin.") 



Baltimore Oriole 



