180 
ICTERUS BALTIMORUS. 
sewed also wit^ .sfronrr horse hair. This nest ivas him? 
on the extremity ot the horizontal hraneh of an apple 
tree fronting the southeast, was visible a hundred vard.s 
Oft, thoiigl. shaded from the snn; and wa.s the n ork of 
a very bean fi fill and perfect bird. The eggs are five, 
white, slightly inged with flesh colour, nia^ed on the 
greater end with purple dots, and on the other parts 
with long hair-hke lines, intersecting each other in a 
variety of directions. I am thus minute in these parti- 
culars, from a wish to point out the specitic difference 
between the true and bastard Baltimore, which Dr 
hatham and some others, suspect to be only the same 
bird in dift(?rt*nt stajr<*s of colour. 
So solicitous is the Baltimore to procure proper 
m iterials for his nest, that, in the season of buildimr, 
the n omcn in the country are under the necessity of 
narron ly watching their thread that may chance to be 
out bleaching, and the farmer to secure hii yoiiiio- grafts ; 
as the Baltimore, finding the former, and the strings 
which tie the latter, so well adapted for his purpose, 
fi'e(,uently carries oft both ; or, should the one be over 
heavy, and the other too firmly tied, he will tug at them 
’ r gives lip the attempt. 
fJ n.T f! ' “ 1 “'* i'“ve been often 
hu nd, .ifter the leaves were ftillen, hanging round the 
B.iltimoies nest; but so woven up, and entangled, as 
to be entirely irreclaimable. Befire the introduction 
of Europeans no such material could have been obtained 
here; but, with the sagacity of a good architect, he has 
improved this circumstance to his advantage ; and the 
s longest and best m.nterials are uniformly found in 
those parts by which the whole is supported. 
1 heir jirincipal food consists of caterpillars, beetles, 
and bugs, particularly one of a brilliant glossy <rreen, 
fragments of which I have almost always found'in their 
ana soniotin?os these onlv. 
The song of the Baltimore is a clear mellmr whistle, 
repeated at shprt intervals as he gleans among the 
liraiiches. There is in it a certain wild plaintiveness 
and naivete extremely interesting. It is not uttered 
