SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 225 
own. When we have once learned to recognize the song 
of a certain individual bird, we are able to note his arrival 
annually. An Oriole with a peculiar song nested near my 
home in Worcester for four consecutive years. Only last 
year I heard a new bird-note in Andover, and found that the 
bird was a Baltimore Oriole, 
singing a song unlike that of 
any bird of any species that I 
had ever heard before. 
Its pendulous nest is usually 
suspended in such a manner 
that its natural enemies find it 
difficult of access, and: the bird, 
a valiant fighter, does not hesi- rig. 83,— Baltimore Oriole, about 
tate to attack its enemies with haa a 
its sharp beak, — a weapon not to be despised. It does the 
fiercest battle with the Kingbird, and may be seen some- 
times struggling in mid air with this doughty adversary, 
until both birds fall to the ground breathless and exhausted. 
It sometimes succumbs, however, to the swarming numbers 
and extreme pugnacity of the “English ” Sparrow, and where 
the Sparrows become most numerous they often drive out 
the Orioles. The Oriole itself, however, is not always guilt- 
less in respect to other birds. Occasionally it destroys other 
nests, either to get material for building its own, or out of 
pure mischief. Mr. Mosher observed a male Oriole attempt- 
ing to drive another away from its nest. The stranger would 
make a rash at the nest, and then the owner would grapple 
with him. This running fight was kept up for fully three 
hours. In the mean time the rogue Oriole went to a Red- 
start’s nest, threw out the eggs, and threw down the nest. 
The next day an Oriole, probably the same bird,.was seen 
to throw out an egg from a Red-eyed Vireo’s nest, when he 
was set upon and driven away by the owners. Three other 
instances have been reported to me by trustworthy observers 
who have seen Orioles in the act of destroying the nests or 
eggs of other birds; but, so far as I know, few writers have 
recorded such habits, and they are probably exceptional. 
Indeed, the Oriole’s bad habits seem to be few. It occa- 
