. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. THE GOLDEN ORIOLE. 251 danger, it often baffles the skill even of the practised fowler, who is forced to trust to the careful imitation of its note for his hope of getting within shot of this cunning biixl. More- over, the imitation must be exceedingly exact, for the ear of the Golden Oriole is wonderfully true and delicate, and if the bird detects the least error in the intonation, it takes instant alarm, and seeks refuge in the deepest recesses of the forest. According to M. Bechstein,
. Animate creation : popular edition of "Our living world" : a natural history. Zoology; Zoology. THE GOLDEN ORIOLE. 251 danger, it often baffles the skill even of the practised fowler, who is forced to trust to the careful imitation of its note for his hope of getting within shot of this cunning biixl. More- over, the imitation must be exceedingly exact, for the ear of the Golden Oriole is wonderfully true and delicate, and if the bird detects the least error in the intonation, it takes instant alarm, and seeks refuge in the deepest recesses of the forest. According to M. Bechstein, the Golden Oriole is so fearful of exposing itself, that it never perches upon a naked branch, always prefening those boughs which are most thickly covered with foliage, and which will consequently afford it the best shelter. The food of the Golden Oriole consists chiefly of insects ; and as the bird is rather a voracious one, it is very serviceable in clearing away the caterpillars and other fruit-devouring creatures which are specially rife in the spring, and destroy so much fruit in its earliest stages. As is often the case with the insect-eating birds, the Golden Oriole has a great taste for fruit when it is quite ripe, and in the autumn is very fond of the best and mellowest fruits, having an especial predilection for cherries, figs, and grapes. Perhaps it may be able to detect the 0^mM'-WSM \ '?Mm'' fk/. GOiJ>EN — 0)wtus gallmla. larva of some insect within the fruit, and to do good service by destroying it before it has come to maturity. The nest of this bird is a very elegantly formed and well-constructed edifice, of a shallow cup-like shape, and usually placed in a horizontal fork of a convenient brancli. The materials of which it is made are mostly delicate grass-stems interwoven ?with wool so firmly that the whole structure is strong and warm. The eggs are generally four or five in number, and their color is purplish-white, sparely marked with blotches
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
