IIG 
EEAUTIfUL BIEDS. 
grafts ; as the Baltimore finding tlie former, and tlie 
strings which tie the latter, so well adapted for his 
purpose, frequently carries off both ; or, should the 
one he over heavjq and the other too firmly tied, he 
will tug at them a considerable time before he gives 
up the attempt. Skeins of silk and hanks of thread 
have been often found, after the leaves were fallen, 
hanging round the Baltimore’s nest. 
The Baltimore bird is so called from its colours, 
which are black and orange, being, says Catesby, those 
of the arms or livery of Lord Baltimore, formerly the 
proprietor of Maryland. It inhabits Xorth America 
from Canada to Mexico, and is even found so far 
south as Brazil. 
Wilson describes the note of this bird as a clear 
mellow whistle, repeated at short intervals as he 
gleans among the branches. There is in it a certain 
wild plaintiveness and naviete extremely interesting ; 
and it is uttered with the pleasing tranquillity of a 
careless plough-boy, whistling merely for his own 
amusement. 
The Baltimore is a migratory bird, and arrives in 
the more temperate portions of America in the spring. 
Its flight is straight and continuous. The plumage 
of the male bird is not mature until the third spring, 
when the colours are, as described by Audubon, the 
folio wmg : bill and feet light blue, iris-orange. Head, 
throat, back part of the neck, quills, and larger second- 
aries, black, as are the two middle tail-feathers, and 
the base of all the rest. The whole under-parts, the 
lesser wing-coverts, and the posterior part of the 
back, bright orange, deeply tinged with vermilion on 
