632 
A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS 
Baltimore Oriole: Icterus galbula. S. R. 
Golden Oriole , Hang-nest, Golden Robin * 
Length: 8 inches. 
Male: Black head, throat, and upper half of back. Wings black, with 
white spots and edges ; tail quills spotted with yellow. Every- 
where else orange-flame. Bill and feet slatish black. 
Female: Paler, the black washed with olive. Below dull orange. 
Song: Somewhat shrill and interrogative, but withal marital. In the 
breeding season they have an anxious call — “Will you? Will 
you really, really, truly?” Female’s note a plaintive “I w-i-11.” 
Season: First of May to the middle of September. 
Nest: A pensile pocket, woven of milkweed, flax, fine string, or fray- 
ings of cotton, rope, etc. ; suspended at the end of a swaying 
branch at considerable distance from the ground. 
Eggs: 4-6, whitish ground, scrawled with black-brown. 
Brilliancy of plumage, sweetness of song, and food habits 
to which no exception can be taken, are some of the striking 
characteristics of the Baltimore Oriole. In summer this species 
is found throughout the northern half of the United States east 
of the Great Plains, and is welcomed and loved in every country 
home in that broad land. In the northern states it arrives 
rather late, and is usually first seen, or heard, foraging amidst 
the early bloom of the apple trees, where it searches for cater- 
pillars or feeds daintily on the surplus blossoms. Its nest 
commands hardly less admiration than the beauty of its plum- 
age or the excellence of its song. Hanging from the tip of the 
outermost bough of a stately elm, it is almost inaccessible, and 
so strongly fastened as to bid defiance to the elements. 
By watching an Oriole which has a nest one may see it 
searching among the smaller branches of some neighboring 
tree, carefully examining each leaf for caterpillars, and occa- 
sionally trilling a few notes to its mate. Observation both in 
the field and laboratory shows that caterpillars constitute the 
largest item of its fare. In 113 stomachs they formed 34 per 
cent, of the food, and are eaten in varying quantities during all 
the months in which the bird remains in this country, although 
the fewest are eaten in July, when a little fruit is also taken. 
The other insects consist of beetles, bugs, ants, wasps, grass- 
hoppers, and some spiders. 
THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE 
O Golden Robin! pipe again 
That happy, hopeful, cheering strain ! 
