Genus XV. ORIOLUS.* 
Species I. ORIOLUS BALTIMOIiUS.f 
BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 
[Plate I. Fig. 3— Male.] 
Linn. S;/sf. 1, p. l'V2, 10. — Identx minor, Briss. n., p. 109, pi. 12, fiij. 1. — Le Bal- 
timore. Buff, hi., p. 231. I'l. En/. 506, fij;;. 1. — Ballimore Bird, Catesb. Car. 
1, iH.—Arct. Zoul. II., p. 142.— L.rni. Si/n. ii., p. 432, 19.— B.vrtram, p. 290. 
This is a bird of passage, arriving; in Pennsylvania, from the south, 
about tlic beginniiio- of May, and de2:)arting toAvards the hitter end of 
August, or beginning of September. From the singularitj of its colors, 
the construction of its nest, and its preferring the apple-trees, weeping- 
willows, walnut, and tulip-trees, adjoining tlie farm-house, to build on, 
it is generally known, and, as usual, honored with a variety of names, 
such as Hang-nest, Hanging-bird, Golden Robin, Fire-bird (from the 
bright orange seen through the green leaves, resembling a flash of 
fire), &c., but more generally the Baltimore-bird, so named, as Catesby 
informs us, from its colors, which are black and orange, being those of 
the arms or livery of Lord Baltimore, formerly proprietary of Maryland. 
The Baltimore Oriole is seven inches in length ; bill almost straight, 
strong, tapering to a sharp point, black, and sometimes lead colored 
above, the lower mandible light blue towards the base. Head, throat, 
upper part of the back and wings, black ; lower part of the back, rump, 
and whole under parts, a bright orange, deepening into vermilion on 
the breast ; the black on the shoulders is also divided by a band of 
orantre ; exterior edjres of the greater winjr-coverts, as well as the edges 
of the secondaries, and part of those of the primaries, white ; the tail 
feathers, under the coverts, orange : the two middle ones thence to the 
tips are black, the next five, on each side, black near the coverts, and 
orange toward the extremities, so disposed, that when the tail is ex- 
panded, and the coverts removed, the black appears in the form of a 
pyramid, supported on an arch of orange, tail slightly forked, the ex- 
* This genus has been variouslj' divided l)y modern ornithologists. Teniininck 
has separated it into four sections, viz. : Cas.<iiciis, Qinscala, Icterus, and Einheri- 
zoides. The two species described by "Wilson, belong to the third section, Icterus. 
j" Corucitis Galhulu, Linn. Sijst. ed. 10, torn, i., 108. — Oriolus Baltimore, Lath. 
Ind. Or It. 180. 
(142) 
