. A manual of the ornithology of the United States and of Canada [microform]. Birds; Oiseaux. 106 OMNIVOBOtJS BIROS. than their mates. They appear to affect the elevated and airy regions of the Alleghany mountains, where they are much more numerous than the Baltimore. The Orchard Oriole is an exceedingly active, sprightly, and restless bird; in the same instant almost, he is on the ground after some fallen insect, fluttering amidst the foliage of the trees, prying and springing after his lurking prey, or iiying, and tuning his lively notes, in a manner so hurried, rapid, and seemingly confused
. A manual of the ornithology of the United States and of Canada [microform]. Birds; Oiseaux. 106 OMNIVOBOtJS BIROS. than their mates. They appear to affect the elevated and airy regions of the Alleghany mountains, where they are much more numerous than the Baltimore. The Orchard Oriole is an exceedingly active, sprightly, and restless bird; in the same instant almost, he is on the ground after some fallen insect, fluttering amidst the foliage of the trees, prying and springing after his lurking prey, or iiying, and tuning his lively notes, in a manner so hurried, rapid, and seemingly confused, that the ear is scarce able to thread out the shrill and lively syllables of his agitated ditty. Between these hurried attempts, he also gives others, which are distinct and agreeable ; but still, his tones are neither so full nor so mellow as those of the brill- iant and gay Baltimore. In choosing the situation of his nest he is equally familiar with that bird, and seems to enjoy the general society of his species, suspending his most in- genious and pensile fabric from the bending twig of the apple-tree, which, like the nest of the other, is constructed in the form of a pouch from 3 to 5 inches in depth, ac- cording to the strength or flexibility of the tree on which he labors; so t'.at in a weeping-willow, according to Wilson, the nest is one or two inches deeper, than if in an apple- tree, to obviate the danger of throwing out the eggs and young by the sweep of the long, pendulous branches. It is, likewise, slighter, as the crowding leaves of that tree afford a natural shelter of considerable thickness. That economy of this ku I should be studied by the Orchard Oriole, will scarcely surprise so much, as the laborious ingenuity, and beautiful tissue of its nest. It is made exteriorly of a fine woven mat of long, tough, and flexible grass, as if darned with a needle. The form is hemispherical, and the inside is lined with downy sub- stances ; sometimes the wool of the seeds
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectoisea, bookyear1832
