102 
The Baltimore Oriole 
and that is why it is called the Baltimore Oriole. It represents a large 
family — the Hang-nests, Icteridce — that is typically American, and in- 
cludes the Orchard Oriole, Bobolink, Redwinged Blackbird, Meadowlark, 
various Crackles and the vagrant Cowbird. 
One of the many welcome facts concerning the Oriole is the ease 
with which he is identified ; I say he, for his more industrious mate, 
who is the expert weaver of the pair, is much more somberly dressed. 
In early May, or even later in backward seasons, you will hear a half- 
militant, half-complaining note from the high tree-branches. As you 
look about to find its origin, it will be repeated, and then a flash of flame- 
and-black will shoot across the range of vision toward 
° r Black and an °ther tree, and the bird, chiding ever, will begin 
a search along the twigs for insects. 
This is our grand singer, the Baltimore Oriole, as he first appears 
in full spring array — his head, throat, top of back, and wings black, 
the outer margins of the greater coverts and quills white-edged. The 
breast and under parts, lower part of the back, and lesser wing-coverts, 
are orange-flame, and the tail is partly black and partly orange. 
When the female Oriole arrives, usually several days after the male, 
the latter’s complaining call, “Will you? Will you really, truly?” gradu- 
ally lessens ; and, after a few weeks, when nest-building begins, it ceases 
altogether, or, rather, is appropriated by the female, who while she 
weaves the nest, is encouraged by the more clarion-like notes of her 
mate’s song of rejoicing. The plumage of the female is brown and 
gray, blended with orange above, the head, back, and throat being mottled 
with black, while the under parts are a dull orange, with little of the 
flaming tints of her mate. 
Though the Oriole exposes himself more freely to view than most of 
our highly colored birds, and, in fact, seems to regard his gift of beauty 
anyhow but seriously, he takes no chances in locating his nest, which is 
frequently a considerable distance above the ground, and always sus- 
pended from a forked branch, which is tough enough to carry it yet so 
slender that no marauding cat would dare venture on it. This pensile 
nest is diligently woven of grasses, twine, vegetable fibers, horsehair, 
bits of worsted, or anything manageable, and varies 
Weav^ng^ the muc h in size and shape, as if individual taste entered 
somewhat into the matter. 
I am disposed to believe that situation is a large factor in deter- 
mining its shape, and that nests in wild regions, where the birds of 
prey and other enemies abound, are smaller at the top and have a more 
decided neck than those found in trees of lawns and orchards. Of the 
many nests that I have found and handled, or have observed closely with 
a glass, the majority have been quite open at the top, like the one pic- 
tured ; and the only one with a narrow and funnel-like opening came 
from an elm on the edge of a dense wood. 
The female seems to be weaver-in-chief, using both claw and bill, 
but I have seen the male carry materials to her. It is asserted that Orioles 
