70 
ORCHARD ORIOLE. 
number of these pensile twigs that descend on each side like 
ribs, supporting the whole ; their thick foliage, at the same 
time, completely concealing the nest from view. The depth 
in this case is increased to four or five inches, and the whole 
is made much slighter. These long pendent branches, being 
sometimes twelve and even fifteen feet in length, have a large 
sweep in the wind, and render the first of these precautions 
necessary, to prevent the eggs or young from being thrown 
out; and the close shelter afforded by the remarkable thick- 
ness of the foliage is, no doubt, the cause of the latter. Two 
of these nests, such as I have here described, are now lying 
before me, and exhibit not only art in the construction, but 
judgment in adapting their fabrication so judiciously to their 
particular situations. If the actions of birds proceeded, as 
some would have us believe, from the mere impulses of that 
thing called instinct , individuals of the same species would 
uniformly build their nest in the same manner, wherever they 
might happen to fix it ; but it is evident from those just 
mentioned, and a thousand such circumstances, that they reason 
a priori , from cause to consequence ; providently managing 
with a constant eye to future necessity and convenience. 
The eggs, one of which is represented on the same plate, 
(fig. a,) are usually four, of a very pale bluish tint, with a few 
small specks of brown, and spots of dark purple. An egg 
of the Baltimore Oriole is exhibited beside it, (fig. b;) both of 
these were minutely copied from nature, and are sufficient of 
themselves to determine, beyond all possibility of doubt, the 
identity of the two species. I may add, that Mr Charles W. 
Peale, proprietor of the museum in Philadelphia, who, as a 
practical naturalist, stands deservedly first in the first rank of 
American connoisseurs, and who has done more for the pro- 
motion of that sublime science than all our speculative theorists 
together, has expressed to me his perfect conviction of the 
changes which these birds pass through ; having himself 
examined them both in spring and towards the latter part of 
summer, and having at the present time in his possession 
