General Notes. 
181 
may be really a “survival,” it is still a most useful habit When a hole 
or space is so filled the nest proper is generally built on the side of the 
mass of rubbish opposite to the entrance and as far as possible from it. 
Manifestly there is a clear purpose in this — viz : that of protection from 
any enemy seeking an entrance. I have observed many nests, in large 
cigar boxes, and in the majority find this state of things to exist. The 
interior space will be filled with sticks, leaving a little passage way over 
the top, through which the bird can reach the nest on the back side of the 
rubbish. It seems to me that this is clearly a defensive habit, necessary 
at this time. When they build a nest in the skull of a horse or ox, it will 
be found that they follow the same rule, and that it will be very difficult to 
get at the nests. 
But their practices are sometimes varied. If a box is not too large, and 
the hole is only large enough to admit of the passage of the birds, they 
will often carry in only just enough material to build the nest, leaving 
the space all open above. I have often known them to pursue this 
course in building in a cigar box where a small hole had been made at the 
middle of one of the sides. But if the box is a large one with a large 
hole cut through the end near the top, as it is suspended on a tree or the 
side of a building, then they will carry in “fully a peck of rubbish,” 
and build the soft nest down on the side opposite the entrance. — Charles 
Aldrich, Webster City , Ioxva. 
Remarkable Plumage of the Orchard Oriole. — There is in 
the collection here a very curiously marked specimen of the Orchard 
Oriole ( Icterus Sturms') from Columbia. Pa. It is evidently a male bird 
in the transition stage of plumage from young to that of the adult. 
Young males of this species usually exhibit “confused characters of both 
sexes,” but in this case the male plumage is confined to the right side of 
the bird, and the female plumage to the left side, the two colorations 
uniting on median lines above and below. So distinctly is -this peculiar- 
ity marked, that a bilateral section of the bird would divide the phases 
about equally. The left side, however, shows very slight traces of black 
and chestnut, yet not so distinct as to lessen the general yellowish-olive 
appearance of the female. There is more of the white on the coverts of 
the left wing than usual. — Charles H. Townsend, Acad. Nat. Science , 
Philadelphia , Pa. 
The Nest and Eggs of Perisoreus canadensis. — The nest upon 
which the following description is based was found by Mr. P. S. Glasier 
on April 7th, 1881, twenty-three miles from Grand Falls, New Brunswick. 
It was built in a small fir tree with few branches, about ten feet from the 
ground. The tree was in “mixed land” beside a brook, on the south side 
of a hill and near a lumber camp. From the men in the camp it was 
learned that the bird built the nest about the middle of March, and had 
been sitting for ten days. The parent bird was found on the nest, shot, 
and forwarded to me, so that there can be no doubt of identity. 
