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of birds says "the Orioles are generally 
of a social disposition. Love, which sepa- 
rates so many other animals into pairs, in 
order to propagate their kind, and fulfil 
the desires of nature, serves only to 
strengthen the bonds of their union. A 
great number of pairs of some of the 
species are often seen upon the same tree, 
nestling, hatching, and educating their 
young together. Thev always choose one 
of the tallest trees for constructing their 
nests, which are of a cylindrical form, 
suspended from the extremity of the high- 
est branches, and floating in the air. The 
young are thus in continual motion, as if 
rocked in a cradle. A traveller, who 
walks into the forests of those countries, 
among the first strange objects that excite 
his curiosity, is struck with the number of 
birds' nests hanging at the extremity of 
almost every branch. The whole history 
of nature does not, perhaps, afford an 
example of a more ingenious and suc- 
cessful precaution than that of these birds, 
against those animals by which they are 
surrounded, and which are hostile to their 
