424 RED-SHOULDERED ORIOLE. 



and by so wondrous an instinct, that the highest 

 floods never reach to destroy it. The nest is 

 strong, made externally with broad grass, a little 

 plastered; thickly lined with bent or withered 

 grass. The eggs are white, thinly and irregularly 

 streaked with black. Fernandez says that in 

 Mexico they build near towns; and both he and 

 Catesby agree that they sing as well in a state of 

 confinement as of nature; and that they may be 

 taught to speak. I agree with M. de BufFon, that, 

 in case the manner of their nidification is as Fer- 

 nandez asserts*, the disagreement in the different 

 countries is wonderful. In Louisiana they appear 

 only in winter, and are taken in a clap-net, placed 

 on each side of a beaten path made on purpose, 

 and strewed over with rice. As soon as the birds 

 alight the fowler draws the net, and sometimes 

 takes three hundred at a haul. They are also 

 eaten in the English Colonies. Fernandez does 

 not commend their flesh, which he says is un- 

 palatable and unwholesome. Du Pratz speaks of 

 two kinds; this, and another wdiich is grey and 

 black, with a red shoulder, like the species in 

 question. I suspect he forms out of the, young 

 birds, not yet arrived at full colour, a new kind, or 

 perhaps a female bird; for I have received from 

 Dr. Garden one under that title which agrees 

 with the description given by M. du Pratz. These 

 are streaked with pale rusty brown: cheeks black: 



* Viz. between the forks of such trees as grow in swampy 

 ground. 



