This species makes its first appearance in Louisiana early in March,
and remains until October, being seen for several weeks after the Baltimore
Oriole has set out. In reaches the Middle Districts in the beginning
of April. I have met with it as far as the province of Maine and
the head waters of the Mississippi. It is fond of high ground and the
neighbourhood of mountains during the breeding season, after which it
removes to the meadows and prairies in considerable numbers. Whilst
in these meadows, it feeds principally upon a small species of cricket,
ground spiders and small grasshoppers. Their flesh is very good at
that late season, and is much esteemed by the Creoles of Louisiana.
The French of that State give it the name of POPE DE PRAIRIE, while
they designate the Baltimore Oriole by that of PAPE DE BOIS, which arises
no doubt from the marked preference which the former manifests to the
plains in autumn, where a great number are shot or caught in trap cages.
It is easily kept in cages, where it sings with all the liveliness which it
shews in its wild state, and may be fed on rice and dry fruits, when fresh
ones cannot be procured. I have known one of these birds, a beautiful
male, kept for upwards of four years by a friend of mine at New Orleans.
It had been raised from the nest, and having passed through the different
changes of its plumage, had become perfect, Avas full of action, and sung
delightfully.
The nest represented in the plate was drawn in Louisiana, and was
entirely composed of grass. It may be looked upon as a sample of the
usual form and construction. The branch of Honey Locust on which
you see these birds belongs to a tree which sometimes grows to a great
height, without much apparent choice of situation. It is more abundant
to the west of the Alleghanies, and towards the Southern Districts, than in
the Middle States. The wood is brittle and seldom used. The trunk and
branches are frequently covered with innumerable long, sharp, and extremely
hard spines, protruded in every direction, and in some instances
placed so near to each other as to preclude the possibility of any person's
climbing them. It bears a long pod, containing a sweet substance, not
unlike that of the honey of bees, and which is eaten by children, when it
becomes quite ripe. The spines are made use of by tobacconists for the
purpose of fastening together the different twists of their rolls.
]
I C T E R U S S P U R I U S , Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 5 1 .
O R I O L U S S P U R I U S , Gmet. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 389—Lath. Intl. Ornith. vol. i. p. 180.
B A S T A R D B A L T I M O R E , Lath. Synops. vol. ii. p. 433.
O R C H A R D O R I O L E , O R I O L U S M U T A T I S , WUS. Americ. Ornith. vol. i. p. 64. PI. iv.
fig. I, 2, 3, 4.
Male in complete plumage. Plate XLII. Fig. 1, 2.
Bill conical, slender, longish, compressed, a little curved, very acute,
with inflected acute margins ; upper mandible obtuse above, lower broadly
obtuse beneath. Nostrils oval, covered by a membrane above, basal.
Head and neck of ordinary size. Body rather slender. Feet of ordinary
length ; tarsus a little longer than the middle toe ; inner toe little shorter
than the outer; claws arched, compressed, acute, that of the hind toe
twice the size of the others.
Plumage soft, blended, glossy. Wings of ordinary length, the second
and third primaries longest. Tail long, rounded, of twelve rounded
feathers.
Bill black above with light blue margins, light blue beneath. Iris
reddish-brown. Feet light blue. Head, neck, and upper back black ;
the rest of the body dusky orange-red, approaching to chestnut. Quills
and larger coverts black, margined with yellow, the latter tipped with
yellowish-white; tail black.
Length 6^ inches, extent of wings 9 ; bill along the ridge along
the gap f ; tarsus 1, middle toe
Adult Female. Plate XLII. Fig. 5.
Bill, feet and iris, as in the male. Head and upper parts brownishgreen.
Wings and tail greenish-brown ; wing-coverts tipped with white ;
throat white, sides of the neck and under parts generally greyish-yellow.
The young of both sexes resemble the female.
Male, first autumn and spring. Plate XLII. Fig. 3.
A patch of black on the throat, continued upwards over the lore and
forehead. Head and upper parts brownish-green ; fore part of the back
orange ; a yellow band over the eye. Under parts light yellow. Wings
and tail as in the female, but the coverts tipped with yellow.
f