THE PERSIC, THE BANANA, THE BLACK ORIOLE. 363 



The Niger sang sweetly; what time did the note 

 Of the Hang-nest on zephyrs enchantingly float; 

 Of the tawny Banana inscribe we the name, 

 And forget not his nest in the annals of fame. 



long; builds a thick pensile nest between reeds, and just above 

 the reach of floods ; eggs white, with a few black streaks; very 

 destructive to rice plantations ; it devours, also, swarms of 

 insects and worms ; inhabits in vast flocks from New York as 

 far as New Spain. Found in the summer in the northern, in the 

 whiter in the southern American States. Another variety in- 

 habits Africa. 



The Persicus, Black-and- Yellow-Oriole, or Persic, of 

 which there are three or four varieties, inhabits South America. 

 It forms a pendent nest, shaped like an alembic, on the extreme 

 branches of trees ; sometimes, it is said, hundreds are seen 

 hanging from the same tree ; eggs dirty white, with small pale- 

 brown spots. 



The Banance, Banana-Oriole, Bomna-Oriole, or Banana-bird, 

 is tawny ; back, and quill, and tail-feathers, black ; seven inches 

 long ; inhabits South America and the Caribbee Islands ; forms a 

 nest of leaves and stalks the shape of a fourth part of a globe, sewed 

 with great art to the under part of a banana leaf, so that the 

 leaf itself makes one side of the nest. I have ventured to differ, 

 even from Linnaeus himself, as well as subsequent naturalists, 

 in the orthography of the specific name of this bird. The great 

 Swede gives us Bonana ; but surely there can be no reason for such 

 an orthography, as the bird forms its nest partly of the leaf of 

 the Banana, (musa sapientum,) we ought not to depart from 

 the orthography of that word. I also give it in the genitive 

 case, as more expressive of the habit of this Oriole. 



The Niger, Black-Oriole, or Troupiole, is totally black* 

 female greenish-brown ; ten inches long ; feeds on worms and 

 beetles ; builds in trees about eight feet from the ground, and 



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