35C Passeres.- BIUDS.— — Sturnida;. 
like fabric. This pouch, which is six or seven inches 
in depth, is lined with soft substances, firmly inter- 
woven with the outer coat, and the interior is finished 
with a layer of horsehair. The opening, which is at 
the top of the nest, is generally sufficiently protected 
by the overhanging leaves ; but sometimes it is fur- 
nished with a horizontal cover. Almost any fibrous 
material seem's to be welcome to this ingenious little 
weaver, when engaged in the construction of its nest ; 
skeins of silk and hanks of thread are often carried off 
and worked into the edifice, and even the bits of soft 
band with which gardeners fasten their grafts and 
buds are sometimes purloined and used in the same 
manner. The eggs are five in number, of a pinkish 
white colour, marked at the larger end with purple 
dots, and on the rest of the surface with fine, irregu- 
larly intersecting, hair- like lines. The food of this 
bird consists principally of insects. 
THE ORCHARD ORIOLE {Icterus spurius)^ a species 
nearly allied to the preceding, is, like it, a migratory 
bird, visiting the United States in the spring, and 
remaining there through the summer, when it takes its 
departure for the warm regions of the south. The 
male has the head, neck, breast, upper part of the back, 
wings, and tail black ; the rest of the plumage bright 
chestnut. The female is of a yellowish-olive colour, 
with ttie back and wings brownish. The length of the 
bird is about six inches and a half. 
The Orchard Oi'iole feeds principally upon cater- 
pillars, grubs, and other insects ; and hence, although 
he may sometimes plunder the farmer of his produce, 
his residence in the orchard, where he prefers taking 
up his abode, must be regarded as highly beneficial. 
Like the Baltimore bird, he constructs a pendent nest, 
usually suspending it from the twigs of an apple-tree. 
The nest is composed of a long, tough grass, “ knit, or 
sewed through in a thousand directions, as if actually 
done with a needle.” Wilson says that an old lady to 
whom he showed one of these nests, began to speculate 
on the possibility of teaching the bird to darn stockings ! 
The nest is hemispherical, and about four inches in 
diameter by three inches in depth. When the bird 
selects the long pendent branches of the weeping 
willow for the sip.port of its nest, the latter is made 
much deeper, and attached to several of the drooping 
twigs, which then hang down all round it, and elfec- 
tually conceal it by their foliage. The eggs are gene- 
I’ally four in number, of a very pale bluish tint, sparingly 
speckled with brown and spotted with purple. 
THE CRESTED ORIOLE [Cassicus criskitus). — This 
bird, with some nearly allied species, is distinguished 
from the other members of this family, by having the 
base of the bill produced upwards on the forehead in 
the form of a disc. It is about the size of a magpie, 
and is of a black colour, with a loose crest of reddish 
leathers on the back of the head, the rump and vent 
reddish, and the outer tail feathers yellow. The bill 
is yellow, and the feet are black. 
The Crested Oriole is an inhabitant of Cayenne and 
various parts of South America. It constructs a pen- 
sile nest, composed of various vegetable fibres well 
interwoven, forming a large pouch measuring about 
three feet in length and ten Inches in diameter at its 
lowest part ; the entrance is at the top, and the bottom 
is furnished with a thick bed of dry leaves. This bird 
is less sociable than some of its congeners ; for D’Azara 
mentions six as the greatest number of nests of this 
species that he ever saw on the same tree, whilst Mr. 
Edwards, on his voyage up the Amazon, saw no less 
than forty-five nests of two other species (C. icteronotus 
and C. heemorrhoil'i) suspended from a single tree. 
These nests were about two feet in lengih, and hung so 
close together as to leave only a small portion of the 
top of the tree visible. 
THE RED-WINGED STARLING {Agelaius phceniceus). 
— This bird, which, like the Purple Grakle, is most 
destructive to the corn-crops of the United States, is 
migratory in its habits, dwelling during the winter in 
immense flocks in the southern states, and advancing 
into the northern parts of the Union in the spring. The 
male Red-winged Starling is about nine inches in length ; 
his plumage is glossy black, with the lesser wing-coverts 
scarlet. The female is nearly two inches shorter than 
her partner; she is black, mottled with pale brown 
and white above, and streaked with black and white 
beneath. In their winter quarters these birds find an 
abundant supply of food in the gleanings of the rice and 
cornfields ; during the summer they are engaged in the 
business of incubation and bringing up their broods ; 
but towards the commencement of September they 
are at leisure to commence their work of devastation 
amongst the Indian corn, the ears of which are then 
in a succulent, milky state, presenting an irresistible 
temptation to these and many other birds. Collecting 
in great flocks, the starlings then descend upon the 
fields, tear off the leafy coats with which the ears are 
protected, and soon clear out the young grain, leaving 
nothing but the chaffy cobs to the luckless proprietor 
of the field. It is to be observed, however, that this 
bird, like many other celebrated depredators, must be 
regarded as in some measiire earning a right to liis 
share of the farmer’s produce by the multitude of grubs, 
caterj)illars, and other insects, which he destroys during 
the breeding season, and of which Wilson justly remarks 
that their “ secret and insidious attacks are more to be 
dreaded by the husbandman than the combined forces 
of the whole feathered tribes together.” 
The male Red-winged Starling has a short song, in 
which the notes conlc-q^ler-ree&\•c most common; when 
taken from the nest, it is easily tamed, and may even 
be taught to pronounce a few words. Its nest is usualR’ 
built in a thicket of alder bushes in a damp or marshy 
situation, and sometimes in a tussock of grass, or even 
on the ground ; it is composed of rushes and coarse 
grass, and lined with fine bents. The eggs are gene- 
rally five in number, and of a pale blue colour, marked 
with black lines and dashes. 
THE COW-PEN BIRD {Molothruspecoris), also called 
the Cow-Bunting, is remarkable in this group of birds 
ibr its habit of depositing its egg in the nest of some 
other bird, like our cuckoo. It is a migratory bird, 
making its appearance in the middle states of the 
American Union at the end of March or the beginning 
of April ; it passes the winter in the soutliern states. 
The name of Cow-pen Bird given to this species is due 
to its habit of frequenting the inclosures in which cattle 
