50 
THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 
drooping branches of trees (such as the elm, the pear, or 
apple-tree, wild cherry, weeping willow, tulip-tree, or but- 
tonwood). It is begun by firmly fastening natural strings 
of the flax of the silk weed, or swamp-hollyhock, or stout 
artificial threads, round two or more forked twigs, corres- 
ponding to the intended width and depth of the nest. With 
the same materials, willow down, or any accidental ravel- 
lings, strings, thread, sewing-silk, tow, or wool, that may be 
lying near the neighbouring houses, or round the grafts of 
trees, they interweave and fabricate a sort of coarse cloth 
into the form intended ; towards the bottom of which they 
place the real nest, made, chiefly of lint, wiry grass, horse 
and cow hair, sometimes, in defect of hair, lining the inte- 
rior with a mixture of slender strips of smooth vine bark, 
and rarely with a few feathers, the whole being of a consi- 
derable thickness, and more or less attached to the external 
pouch. Over the top, the leaves, as they grow out, form a 
verdant and agreeable canopy, defending the young from the 
sun and rain. There is sometimes a considerable difference 
in the manufacture of these nests, as well as in the materials 
which enter into their composition. Both sexes seem to be 
equally adepts at this sort of labour, and I have seen the 
female alone perform the whole without any assistance, and 
the male also complete this laborious task nearly without 
the aid of his consort; who, however, in general, is the 
principal worker. I have observed a nest made almost 
wholly of tow, which was laid out for the convenience of a 
