14 Bird Portraits 



The female builds at first a framework of strong material, which 

 is attached to the several twigs on which the nest hangs. She 

 actually ties knots of this material with her long sharp bill, thrust- 

 ing the end of the thread through a loop, then reaching over and 

 pulling it tight. Tragedies sometimes occur during this process, 

 the bird becoming entangled in her own thread and choking or 

 starving to death. A bit of comedy is sometimes seen when the 

 Oriole, returning to her half-finished nest, catches a Summer Yellow- 

 bird in the act of stealing some of the material. After the frame 

 is completed, the Oriole works from inside, weaving the web from 

 side to side. 



By June, the young hatch, and now the male, who has hitherto 

 had an easy time, becomes very busy bringing food to the young. 

 In a few days, they become old enough to cry for it very vigorously, 

 and this they do so incessantly that their peet-teet becomes one of 

 the characteristic sounds of early summer. By the middle of July, 

 the young leave the nest, and then for a week or two the whole 

 family are met with in the country lanes, the children resembling 

 their mother in color, but easily distinguished by their short tails 

 and the general downy look about the head. 



The male suffers an eclipse during midsummer; his cheerful 

 whistle is no longer heard, and we should think that he had already 

 left for the South, did he not resume his strain in August. In 

 fact, he has been moulting; but, unlike the Tanager, he replaces 

 his bright feathers by others as gay, and before he leaves us, he 

 is as bright as when he came. The wild cherry trees are now a 

 favorite resort for the whole family; but by the first of September, 

 they leave the Northern States and return to Central and South 

 America, where they lead a careless life till the approach of spring 

 reminds them of the village elms a thousand miles away. 



