166 
OMNIVOROUS BIRDS. 
than their mates. They appear to affect the elevated and 
airy regions of the Alleghany mountains, where they are 
much more numerous than the Baltimore. 
The Orchard Oriole is an exceedingly active, sprightly, 
and restless bird ; in the same instant almost, he is on 
the ground after some fallen insect, fluttering amidst the 
foliage of the trees, prying and springing after his lurking 
prey, or flying, and tuning his lively notes, in a manner 
so hurried, rapid, and seemingly confused, that the ear is 
scarce able to thread out the shrill and lively syllables of 
his agitated ditty. Between these hurried attempts, he also 
gives others, which are distinct and agreeable ; but still, his 
tones are neither so full nor so mellow as those of the brill- 
iant and gay Baltimore. In choosing the situation of his 
nest he is equally familiar with that bird, and seems to enjoy 
the general society of his species, suspending his most in- 
genious and pensile fabric from the bending twig of the 
apple-tree, which, like the nest of the other, is constructed 
in the form of a pouch from 3 to 5 inches in depth, ac- 
cording to the strength or flexibility of the tree on which he 
labors ; so that in a weeping-willow, according to Wilson, 
the nest is one or two inches deeper, than if in an apple- 
tree, to obviate the danger of throwing out the eggs and 
young by the sweep of the long, pendulous branches. 
It is, likewise, slighter, as the crowding leaves of that 
tree afford a natural shelter of considerable thickness. 
That economy of this kind should be studied by the 
Orchard Oriole, will scarcely surprise so much, as the 
laborious ingenuity, and beautiful tissue of its nest. It 
is made exteriorly of a fine woven mat of long, tough, and 
flexible grass, as if darned with a needle. The form is 
hemispherical, and the inside is lined with downy sub- 
stances ; sometimes the wool of the seeds of the Button- 
wood, forming thus a commodious and soft bed for the 
