THE BIRDS THAT IVE SEE. 
7G9 
this occurred twice in the same uest, so 
that it was one of three stories ; in each 
of the lower ones a cowbird’s egp^ was 
being addled, and in the toj^most the 
true brood of the quick-witted warl)lers 
was successfully hatched and reared. 
The cowbird and the oriole belong to 
the Icteridae, a family of birds which, 
though not large in our region, shows 
among its members a remarkable diver¬ 
sity of character and 23lumage. In it also 
are the meadow lark, the bobolink, the 
grakle, and the redwing ; birds, wliich, 
though nearly akin, have almost nothing 
in common in habits 
or outward aj^j^ear- 
ance. The grakle [p. 
770j is one that we 
may discover before 
leaving the orchard ; 
he is commonly seen 
displaying his gor¬ 
geous plumage on 
the lawn, or squeal¬ 
ing from the toj) of 
a sj)ruce- tree. He is 
a handsome fellow, 
about a foot in 
length, and although 
at first and distrait 
view he is a 6/ac^bird 
simply, he is really a 
very bird of 2)ara- 
dise, for his whole 
body is glossed with 
a resplendent bronze 
green, and his head 
and neck are lovely 
with the jiuiqiles and 
blues of the ^leacock. 
He is a showy, im- 
jiudent bird, a com¬ 
bination of magpie, 
blue jay, and crow, 
and though he is a 
nest-robber at times, 
and a field - robber y ellow Warblers and Nest. 
always, his fine ap¬ 
pearance furnishes excuse enough for metheus of Indian legends ; the firebird, 
his continued existence. He would not warbird, and blood-robin of the coun- 
be a true memlier of his family if he did try folk. His rich scarlet livery, re- 
not affect some oddity of nesting habit, lieved by tlie jet black of his wings and 
and he alone, of our Eastern starlings, tail, fairly blazes in the sunlight. In 
is found building in a hollow tree, or length he is about seven inches, that is, 
an abandoned woodpecker’s hole. The a little larger tlian a sj^arrow, and in 
eggs are very remarkable ; their j^ale liabits rather tame, yet without having 
bluish shell is sj)arsely covered with the any sj^ecial liking for the vicinity of 
most curious drawings in blackish- 
brown ; the subjects are of every kind, 
—dogs, cats, stars, men, j^arrots, weasels, 
snakes, insects, fish, letters, signs, and 
symbols may be seen shaiply siUiouet- 
ted on tliese extraordinary eggs, and if 
the bird had been a Eurojjean one 
we would long ago have had endless 
legends al)out them, and numberless 
weird 2 )otencies ascribed to the cabalis¬ 
tic signs and outlines they j^resent. 
As we leave the orchard we suddenly 
see in the bright sunlight the gorgeous 
j)luniage of the tanager [jj. 771], the Pro- 
