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of the male she has two white wing-bars. Some females are brighter than 
others and have a suggestion of the black hood of the male. The young 
resemble the female. The full orange and black plumage and yellow and 
black tail of the male are acquired before the first breeding season, but the 
bird retains its brown wings with white wing-bars until the first post- 
nuptial moult. 
During the summer this oriole is found from southern Canada nearly 
to the Gulf of Mexico and west to the Rockies. It winters from southern 
Mexico through Central America to Colombia. 
About the first of May in the north central states one may awaken to 
hear the clear flute-like whistle of the Baltimore oriole as it moves about 
in the treetops. There is much variation in song with the same and with 
different birds. Yet the quality of the voice is distinctively that of a 
Baltimore oriole in each case. “Certain individuals have notes peculiar 
to them alone which may serve to identify them” (Roberts). ‘The male 
bird has a second song period in late August and early September. The 
females have a sprightly little warble of their own. 
The orioles are sociable birds, often building in the trees that line our 
streets or even, not infrequently, in trees near houses. The Baltimores 
build a hanging, pouch-like nest with a constricted top at the end of a 
swaying branch. Apparently elm trees are preferred. Every spring for 
several years Baltimore orioles nested in an elm tree of my former home 
yard in Kansas. Probably they nest there still. The female does all the 
work of the nest building, though the male may sometimes bring materials. 
Horsehairs and weed fibers and string are woven in and out many times 
after the skeleton of the nest is finished. 
“In California the Arizona hooded oriole weaves nests of the beautiful 
Spanish moss; but one occasionally uses the love vine or yellow dodder to 
construct a gaudy, pocket-like nest.” Experiments have proved that our 
fire-bird will not use gay colors for the nests. Given a choice of strings 
and yarns the Baltimore takes the most somber ones with now and then a 
blue or purple strand but no yellow, red, or green. But the chief aim 
seems to be to make the nest inaccessible. 
When the young birds arrive after an incubation period of about two 
weeks, the father aids in feeding them. Although Baltimore oriole nestlings 
are known as the cry-babies of the bird world they do not begin their 
almost ceaseless ‘‘tee-dee-dee, tee-dee-dee” at once. This cry is a sign that 
they are almost ready to leave the nest and have developed the food call 
which will enable their parents to find them later. 
Baltimore orioles are not only a joy to the eye, but also they feed 
freely upon tent caterpillars and other hairy larvae which few birds will 
touch. The stomach contents of three of these birds shot in an Illinois 
orchard infested by canker forms consisted 40 per cent of these pests and 
50 per cent of an injurious leaf chafer. The nestlings also are fed with 
canker worms. Prof. Beal (Biological Survey of United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture) reported that caterpillars alone formed 34 per cent 
of the food of 113 specimens examined, while vegetable matter had been 
