152 FAMILIAR I'EATURES OP THE ROADSIDE. 



which he lowers and raises at will, and his black 

 face and throat. In song the cardinal grosbeak is 

 not to be compared with the thrushes or the 

 thrasher; his notes are whistled, and quite similar 

 to those of the scarlet tanager. Very rarely I have 

 caught sight of this beautiful bird on the wooded 

 roadsides of New Jersey. In Virginia he is quite 

 common. 



The most brilliant bird which appears on the 

 roadside — and he is always to be found in the elm 

 or the maple, near some old homestead — is the Balti- 

 more oriole* {Ictenis galbida). He is about seven 

 and a half inches long. His lower back and breast 

 are brilliant orange, the head and wings are black, 

 and a white band marks the latter. The female 

 is ohve-backed and yellow-olive-breasted. She lays 

 about five buff-tinged wMte eggs marked on the 

 larger ends with purple-brown spots. The nest is a 

 remarkable, woven pouch, from five to seven inches 

 deep, usually hung from an upper, slender branch, f 

 Bits of hemp, rope, twine, hair, wool, thistle-down, or, 

 in fact, anything shreddy which can be picked up 

 around the house, the bird weaves into the nest with 

 consummate skill. 



* Named for the first Lord Baltimore because the black and 

 orange of its plumage were the colors forming his livery. 



f See also the mention of oriole nest-building on page 133. 



