ORCHARD ORIOLE. 
67 
and repeated the same error. Another cause may be assigned, 
viz. the extreme shyness of the female Orchard Oriole, repre- 
sented at fig. 1. This bird has hitherto escaped the notice of 
European naturalists, or has been mistaken for another species, 
or perhaps for a young bird of the first season, which it almost 
exactly resembles. In none of the numerous works on ornitho- 
logy has it ever before appeared in its proper character ; though 
the male has been known to Europeans for more than a 
century, and has usually been figured in one of his dresses as 
male, and in another as female ; these varying according to 
the fluctuating opinions of different writers. It is amusing to 
see how gentlemen have groped in the dark in pairing these 
two species of orioles, of which the following examples may 
be given : 
Buffon’s and Latham’s Bal- 
timore Oriole. 
Spurious Baltimore of ditto. 
Pennant’s Baltimore Oriole. 
Spurious Oriole of ditto. 
Catesby’s Baltimore Oriole. 
Spurious Baltimore of ditto. 
C Male — Male Baltimore. 
\ Female — Male Orchard Oriole, fig. 4. 
( Male — Female Baltimore. 
\ Female — Male Orchard Oriole, fig. 2. 
5 Male — Male Baltimore. 
\ Female — Young male Baltimore. 
5 Male — Male Orchard Oriole, fig. 4. 
1 Female — Ditto ditto, fig. 2. 
5 Male — Male Baltimore. 
X Female — Not mentioned. 
\ Male — Male Orchard Oriole, fig. 2. 
X Female — Ditto ditto, fig. 4. 
Among all these authors Catesby is doubtless the most 
inexcusable, having lived for several years in America, where 
he had an opportunity of being more correct : yet, when it is 
considered, that the female of this bird is so much shyer than 
the male ; that it is seldom seen ; and that, while the males are 
flying around and bewailing an approach to their nest, the 
females keep aloof, watching every movement of the enemy 
in restless but silent anxiety ; it is less to be wondered at, I 
say, that two birds of the same kind, but different in plumage, 
making their appearance together at such times, should be 
taken for male and female of the same nest, without doubt or 
examination, as, from that strong sympathy for each other’s 
distress which prevails so universally among them at this 
