Of the sub-family of Orioles, to which the Red-wing belongs, no member,
unless it be the namesake of Maryland’s distinguished proprietor,
builds a more magnificent nest than the one that inhabits the orchard.
In the books it is known by the no means euphonious title of _Icterus
spurius_. Its nest is shaped like a pouch, and generally pensile. Soft,
flexible meadow grasses, neatly and compactly woven together, make up
the outer fabric, while within is a lining of vegetal or animal wool,
or one of fine grasses intermingled with horse-hair. But the handsomest
ever seen was one that was found in the vicinity of Nazareth, Pa., by
Richard Christ, in the summer of 1883. It is of the usual size, five
inches in height, three in external diameter, but differing from the
normal form only in materials of composition. The proverbial meadow
grasses are absent, and in lieu thereof are the headed stems of such as
grow by the roadside, notably conspicuous for their golden brightness
in a state of desiccation.
[Illustration: DOUBLE NEST OF ORCHARD ORIOLE.
Female Sitting, Male Standing Guard.]
More noteworthy, however, than the Nazareth nest, is one that was
removed from a silver maple-tree. It is a double structure, composed
of long, flexible grasses, and is firmly bound by the same to several
small, slender branches. The larger nest, inversely sub-conical, is
joined to the smaller, somewhat similarly shaped, but less compact in
structure, by ribbons of the same kind of grass that composes the nest.
A circular opening, one inch in diameter, is a noticeable feature of
the smaller. That the additional structure served some useful purpose
there can be no doubt. I am inclined to believe that it was built for
the accommodation of either parent while the other was sitting. The
aperture was a convenient outlook for the non-sitting bird, who, from
this position, could with little difficulty, like a sentinel from an
outpost, detect the approach of an enemy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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