ORCHARD ORIOLE. 
183 
The chief difference between the male and female 
Baltimore oriole is the superior brightness of the 
orange colour of the former to that of the latter. The 
black on the head, upper part of the back and throat of 
the female, is intermixed with dull orange ; whereas, 
in the male, those parts are of a deep shining black ; 
the tail of the female also wants the greater part of the 
black, and the whole lower parts are of a much duskier 
orange. 
I have observed, that these birds are rarely seen in 
pine woods, or where these trees generally prevail. 
On the ridges of our high mountains they are seldom 
to be met with. In orchards, and on well cultivated 
farms, they are most numerous, generally preferring 
such places to build in, rather than the woods or forest. 
52 . ICTERUS SPURIUS , BONAPARTE . — ORIOLUS MUTATUS, WILSON. 
ORCHARD ORIOLE. 
WILSON, PL. IV. FIG. I. FEMALE ; FIG. II. MALE, TWO YEAR? 
OLD ; FIG. III. MALE, THREE YEARS OLD ; FIG. IV. THE ADULT 
MALE. — EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
There are no circumstances, relating to birds, which 
tend so much to render their history obscure and per- 
plexing, as the various changes of colour which many 
of them undergo. These changes are in some cases 
periodical ; in others progressive ; and are frequently 
so extraordinary, that, unless the naturalist has resided 
for years in the country where the birds inhabit, and 
has examined them at almost every season, he is 
extremely liable to be mistaken and imposed on by their 
novel appearance. Numerous instances of this kind 
might be cited, from the pages of European writers, in 
which the same bird has been described two, three, and 
even four different times, by the same person ; and each 
time as a different kind. The species we are now about 
to examine is a remarkable example of this ; and it has 
