The Building of the Nest 91 



but not wonderful, because not difficult ; but 

 let us consider a Baltimore oriole and his 

 nest. The latter is often suspended from a 

 very slender elm or willow twig, and the bird 

 has a hard time to hold on while at work. 

 One experienced old oriole has for years built 

 in the elm near my door, and occasionally I 

 have caught a glimpse of him. I will not be 

 positive, but believe that his first move is to 

 find a good stout string, and this he ties to the 

 twig. I use the word tie" because I have 

 found in many cases a capitally-tied knot, but 

 how the bird, or birds, could accomplish 

 this I cannot imagine. Both feet and beak, 

 I suppose, are brought into play, but how ? 

 To get some insight into the matter, I once 

 tied a very long string to the end of a thread 

 that the oriole had secured at one end and 

 left dangling. This interference caused some 

 commotion, but the bird was not outwitted. 

 It caught the long string by its loose end and 

 wrapped it over and over various twigs, and 

 soon had a curious open-work bag that served 

 its purpose admirably. The lining of soft, 

 fluffy stuffs was soon added. This brought up 

 the question as to whether the bird ever ties 

 short pieces together and so makes a more 



