BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 
19 
however, equal the baltimore in the construction of these 
receptacles for their young, and in giving them, in such a 
superior degree, convenience, warmth, and security. For 
these purposes he generally fixes on the high bending extre- 
mities of the branches, fastening strong strings of hemp or 
flax round two forked twigs, corresponding to the intended 
width of the nest : with the same materials, mixed with 
quantities of loose tow, he interweaves or fabricates a strong 
firm kind of cloth, not unlike the substance of a hat in its raw 
state, forming it into a pouch of six or seven inches in depth, 
lining it substantially with various soft substances, well inter- 
woven with the outward netting, and, lastly, finishes with a 
layer of horse hair ; the whole being shaded from the sun and 
rain by a natural pent-house, or canopy of leaves. As to a 
hole being left in the side for the young to be fed and void 
their excrements through, as Pennant and others relate, it is 
certainly an error : I have never met with any thing of the 
kind in the nest of the baltimore. 
Though birds of the same species have, generally speaking, 
a common form of building, yCt, contrary to the usually 
received opinion, they do not build exactly in the same 
manner. As much difference will be found in the style, 
neatness, and finishing of the nests of the baltimores, as in 
their voices. Some appear far superior workmen to others : 
and probably age may improve them in this, as it does in their 
colours. I have a number of their nests now before me, all 
completed, and with eggs. One of these, the neatest, is in 
the form of a cylinder, of five inches diameter, and seven 
inches in depth, rounded at bottom. The opening at top is 
narrowed, by a horizontal covering, to two inches and a half 
in diameter. The materials are flax, hemp, tow, hair, and 
the same tree, and their nests, suspended from the pensile branches, and waving 
in the wind, render the landscape and woods singular to an unaccustomed eye, 
and present appearances which those only who have had the good fortune to 
Witness them in their native wilds can appreciate. 
The female is given by Wilson, in Plate LIIL in our second volume. — Ed. 
