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- Fig. 83.— Baltimore Oriole, about 



tate to attack its enemies with oneha11 natural Bize ' 



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 rush 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 Eed- 

 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- 



