Twenty to thirty years ago, it was not an unusual sight to see even the
scarlet tanager, a bright red bird with black wings and tail, flitting
from tree to tree in the heart of our cities like a fiery meteor in the
sun-light, and to find their nests, built very lightly of straws and
similar material on the horizontal limbs of our shade trees. But they
were killed or driven off long before the advent of bird millinery as a
fashion. They were, indeed, a "shining mark," and every body wanted a
specimen, or thought they did, until at the present time the scarlet
tanager is really a very rare bird throughout the New England States.
The Baltimore oriole, so named because the colors of the bird, black and
yellow, resembled those of Lord Baltimore, has almost met the same fate,
as it has done duty in ornamenting thousands of ladies' bonnets within
the past five years. Four years ago this bird was quite plenty on the
elms of Boston and suburbs. The hanging nests, made of hemp, old twine,
etc., were quite common. But the past season showed a great change.
These birds have been shot so ruthlessly, both while here and at the
South, and during the migration, that hardly a pair could be found
during the breeding season of 1886.
_Scientific American._