We find the Golden Oriole in America only. According to Mr. Nuttall, it
is migratory, appearing in considerable numbers in West Florida about
the middle of March. It is a good songster, and in a state of captivity
imitates various tunes.
This beautiful bird feeds on fruits and insects, and its nest is
constructed of blades of grass, wool, hair, fine strings, and various
vegetable fibers, which are so curiously interwoven as to confine and
sustain each other. The nest is usually suspended from a forked and
slender branch, in shape like a deep basin and generally lined with fine
feathers.
"On arriving at their breeding locality they appear full of life and
activity, darting incessantly through the lofty branches of the tallest
trees, appearing and vanishing restlessly, flashing at intervals into
sight from amidst the tender waving foliage, and seem like living gems
intended to decorate the verdant garments of the fresh clad forest."
It is said these birds are so attached to their young that the female
has been taken and conveyed on her eggs, upon which with resolute and
fatal instinct she remained faithfully sitting until she expired.
An Indiana gentleman relates the following story:
"When I was a boy living in the hilly country of Southern Indiana, I
remember very vividly the nesting of a pair of fine Orioles. There stood
in the barn yard a large and tall sugar tree with limbs within six or
eight feet of the ground.
"At about thirty feet above the ground I discovered evidences of an
Oriole's nest. A few days later I noticed they had done considerably
more work, and that they were using horse hair, wool and fine strings.
This second visit seemed to create consternation in the minds of the
birds, who made a great deal of noise, apparently trying to frighten me
away. I went to the barn and got a bunch of horse hair and some wool,
and hung it on limbs near the nest. Then climbing up higher, I concealed
myself where I could watch the work. In less than five minutes they were
using the materials and chatted with evident pleasure over the abundant
supply at hand.
"They appeared to have some knowledge of spinning, as they would take a
horse hair and seemingly wrap it with wool before placing it in position
on the nest.
"I visited these birds almost daily, and shortly after the nest was
completed I noticed five little speckled eggs in it. The female was so
attached to the nest that I often rubbed her on the back and even lifted
her to look at the eggs."
[Illustration: GOLDEN ORIOLE.]