OUR HOME BIRDS. 
115 
“ But think of the poor little parent-birds/’ re- 
plied the governess, “ and especially the mother, who 
defends her nest even with her life. We should not 
put them to such pain for the sake of our own 
pleasure ?” 
“ No ! no !” said tender-hearted little Clara and 
Edith, w T hile Malcolm, boy-like, said, “ I guess, after 
all, I don’t care about having a bird poking round 
after me all the time.” 
“ There is also the orchard oriole,” continued Miss 
Harson, “ which differs from the Baltimore in being 
duller-hued and half an inch shorter, as well as more 
slender. It also builds a different kind of nest, sus- 
pending it generally from the twigs of an apple tree, 
and making it of long, tough, flexible grass, that 
seems to be actually sewed through and through in 
a thousand directions, as if done with a needle. This 
curious nest is about three inches deep and four wide, 
and one of the stalks of dried grass, thirteen inches 
long, has been known to be hooked through and re- 
turned no less than thirty-four times. An old lady 
who saw it expressed her opinion that this bird might 
be taught to darn stockings. There are four bluish 
eggs, with a few T small specks of brown on them, and 
some spots of dark purple. 
“ The orchard oriole is one of the farmer’s most 
useful friends, being a deadly enemy to the horde of 
