The Bullock Oriole 



of Nature, if we pass with reverent ecstacy from one marvel to another, 

 or if we gaze with kindling enthusiasm upon a single example of his perfect 

 work, we declare ourselves to be of his sort. We are manifestly pleased, 

 and his pleasure is in the sight of ours. We hold communion with him in 

 wonder no less than in praise. Rightly considered, wonder is worship, 

 and God hath not wrought in vain. 



And what marvel in all nature shall exceed that offered in the delicate, 

 fantastic traceries of a Bullock Oriole's egg! On a background of palest 

 bluish gray, the calligraphist, having dipped his pen in a well of purplish 

 black, proceeds to scrawl and shade, to zigzag and flourish and vibrate — 

 all this while the obedient oval turns round and round. Now as the egg 

 revolves for a dozen turns, the artist bears on with laborious care. . Now 

 he lifts the pen ; and now, return- 

 ing, he loiters while the ink 

 runs out upon the page in little 

 pools of indelible blackness. 

 Quaint and fanciful, indeed, are 

 the divagations of the Icterine 

 genius. With all the world before 

 him, why should he not choose to 

 be fantastic? On a specimen be- 

 fore me there are traceries which 

 vary in width from one twen- 

 tieth of an inch to one ten- 

 thousandth. Some of them stand 

 forth like the lines of an engraved 

 visiting card, while others require 

 a magnifyingglass to recall 

 their nebulous course to visi- 

 bility. On another egg twelve in- 

 dependent lines pass unheeding within a total space of one tenth of an inch, 

 while the smaller end of the same egg is perfectly bare. Here the weird 

 image of a goblin piper braces itself on legs set rakishly awry, and strains 

 away at a splintered flute — all within the space of a barley-corn. There 

 a cable of twisted purple ropes frays suddenly and goes off into gossamer 

 hysterics. Another egg, tottering under its burden of pigment, shows 

 lines curiously shadowed, or "side-wiped." It is all so fascinating, so 

 bewildering, and so mysterious! What is it all for?. 



An easy answer would be that it is a phase of protective coloration. 

 I can testify that in the special circumstances of a nest wherein scanty 





Photo by Win. H. Wonfor 



A TYPICAL SET OF BULLOCK ORIOLE'S EGGS 



99 



