No price is set on the lavish summer;
June may be had by the poorest comer.
And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays:
Whether we look, or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten;
Every clod feels a stir of might,
An instinct within it that reaches and towers,
And, groping blindly above it for light,
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers;
The flush of life may well be seen
Thrilling back over hills and valleys;
The cowslip startles in meadows green,
The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice,
And there’s never a leaf nor a blade too mean
To be some happy creature’s palace;
The little bird sits at his door in the sun,
Atilt like a blossom among the leaves,
And lets his illumined being o’errun
With the deluge of summer it receives;
His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings,
And the heart in her dumb breast flutters and sings;
He sings to the wide world, and she to her nest,
In the nice ear of Nature which song is the best?
—James Russell Lowell, “The Vision of Sir Launfal.”
BULLOCK’S ORIOLE.
(_Icterus bullocki._)
Bullock’s Oriole, a species as handsome and conspicuous as the Baltimore
Oriole, replaces it in the western portions of the United States and is
likewise widely distributed. Its breeding range within our borders
corresponds to its distribution. It is only a summer resident with us,
arriving usually from its winter haunts in Mexico during the last half
of March and, moving slowly northward, reaches the more northern parts
of its breeding range from a month to six weeks later. It appears to be
much rarer in the immediate vicinity of the seacoast than in the Great
Basin regions, where it is common nearly everywhere, especially if
sufficient water is found to support a few stunted cottonwoods and
willows. During my extensive wanderings through nearly all the states
west of the Rocky Mountains and extending from the Mexican to the
British borders, I have met with this species almost everywhere in the
lowlands and in some localities have found it very abundant. Like the
Baltimore Oriole, it avoids densely wooded regions and the higher
mountains. It is especially abundant in the rolling prairie country
traversed here and there by small streams having their sources in some
of the many minor mountain ranges which are such prominent features of
the landscape in portions of Idaho, Washington and Oregon. These streams
are fringed with groves of cottonwood, mixed with birch, willow and
alder bushes, which are the favorite resorts of this Oriole during the
breeding season. The immediate vicinity of water is, however, not
considered absolutely necessary, as I have found it nesting fully a mile
or more away from it on hillsides, the edges of table-lands and in
isolated trees, or even in bushes. In Colorado it is said to be found at
altitudes of over eight thousand feet, but as a rule it prefers much
lower elevations.
The call notes of Bullock’s Oriole are very similar to those of the
Baltimore, but its song is neither as pleasing to the ear nor as clear
and melodious as that of the latter. Its food is similar and consists
principally of insects and a few wild berries.
The nest resembles that of the Baltimore Oriole, but as a rule it is not
quite as pensile and many are more or less securely fastened by the
sides as well as by the rim to some of the adjoining twigs. The general
make-up is similar. As many of the sections where Bullock’s Oriole
breeds are still rather sparsely settled, less twine and such other
material as may be picked up about human habitations enter into its
composition. Shreds of wild flax and other fiber-bearing plants and the
inner bark of the juniper and willow are more extensively utilized;
these with horsehair and the down of plants, wool and fine moss furnish
the inner lining of the nests. According to my observations, the birch,
alder, cottonwood, eucalyptus, willow, sycamore, oak, pine and juniper
furnish the favorite nesting sites; and in Southern Arizona and Western
Texas it builds frequently in bunches of mistletoe growing on cottonwood
and mesquite trees.
The nests are usually placed in low situation, from six to fifteen feet
from the ground, but occasionally one is found fully fifty feet up. A
very handsome nest, now before me, is placed among six twigs of
mistletoe, several of these being incorporated in the sides of the nest,
which is woven entirely of horsehair and white cotton thread, making a
very pretty combination. The bottom of the nest is lined with wool.
[Illustration: BULLOCK’S ORIOLE.
(Icterus bullocki).
⅔ Life-size.
FROM COL. CHI. ACAD. SCIENCES.]
The sexes are extremely devoted to each other and valiantly defend their
eggs and young. I once saw a pair vigorously attack a Richardson’s
squirrel, which evidently was intent on mischief, and drive it out of
the tree in which they had their nest. Both birds acted with the
greatest courage and dashed at it repeatedly with fury, the squirrel
beating a hasty retreat from the combined attack. The young are large
enough to leave the nest in about two weeks and are diligently guarded
and cared for by both parents until able to provide for themselves.
Charles Bendire.
From “Life Histories of North American Birds.”