ORIOLES 213 



BALTIMORE ORIOLE: Icterus gaXbvla (Linnaeus). 



State records. — The Baltimore oriole, often known as fire- 

 bird or hang-nest, is rather rare in Alabama, occurring as a 

 spring and fall migrant and breeding sparingly in the north- 

 em half of the State. It is recorded as breeding in mod- 

 erate numbers at Leighton and rarely at Bridgeport and Smel- 

 ley. At Greensboro, Dr. Avery states that it bred rather com- 

 monly prior to 1870, but by 1890 was not to be found, except 

 in autumn migration. The species is recorded as arriving 

 in spring at Leighton, April 18; Smelley, April 19; Sand 

 Mountain (Jackson County), April 20; York, April 29; and 

 HoUins, May 1. It leaves for the South in fall during Septem- 

 ber, the last having been noted at Greensboro, September 23 

 (1890). Incubated eggs were found at Leighton, May 15 and 

 fresh eggs. May 20. 



General habits. — The Baltimore oriole is a lover of tall trees, 

 particularly elms and sycamores, to the long pendant branches 

 of which it hangs its nest, out of reach of practically every 

 enemy. It is fond of the society of man and regularly makes 

 its home in dooryards or along village streets. Its song is a 

 loud, prolonged, cheerful warble, often uttered while on the 

 wing, and between the strains of the song the bird keeps up a 

 more or less continuous series of chirrups or whistles. The 

 young while in the nest cry almost continuously for food, and 

 even after leaving the nest keep up their monotonous whining. 



The nest is a deep, purse-shaped bag, woven of plant fibers, 

 twine, horse hair, or similar material and swung from near 

 the extremity of a slender limb, from 10 to 40 feet above the 

 ground. It is deeper than that of the orchard oriole, being 

 sometimes as deep as 9 inches, and is almost always truly pen- 

 sile, not supported on sides or bottom. 



Food habits. — Like the orchard oriole, this species is a great 

 destroyer of insect pests. It is especially fond of caterpillars, 

 and consumes, also, large numbers of beetles, weevils, wasps, 

 bugs, flies, grasshoppers, and locusts. About one-sixth of its 

 food consists of vegetable matter, mainly fruit, with some 

 grain and weed seed. Cherries, raspberries, mulberries, 

 huckleberries, elderberries, and June berries have been found 



