The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-30
A FEATHERED GENTLEMAN.
Odd stories of a brilliant baltimore
OriOic.

From the New York Sun
Here are some stories about the Balti-
more oriole as gathered by a dozen dir
ferent observers, but all unquestonalIy
true. Every one that has seen this bird in
nature knows that 1t is one Of the most
beautiful birds OF the continent and that
its voice is one Of the most cheerful known
among feathcred songsters. That It is as
wise as it is beautiful and tuneful will
probably be demonstrated to every one
who reads these stories Of its doings
Three pairs OF Baltimore orioles built
their nests in the boUghs Of the Gins shad-
ing large garden. Though on separate
trees. they were all close together and the
birds were all on very good terms In 9TH
er trees round about and in the shrubs and
bushes beneath were the nests Of other
birds-robns. buebirds black-birds, cat
birds, chippy birds-what not? Between
these outsiders and the orioles there was
commonly peace, though the blackbird oc-
casionally got into trouble when he came
too near the orioles nests. Accordingly
when on-a certain morning the birds of all
kinds were found to be In an uproar
s'Nt -H-AAAAt1 Aiih il9tlib dubul III "a state OF
wild excitement, the gardener ran to see
what allied the feathered crowd.
The cause of the trouble was soon dis
covered. one of the demure oriole wives
had caught her head in the sharp angled
fork Of a tree limb and there she hung,
futterng and unable to free herself Tho
bird community had assembled In force.
and had they been endowed with ordinary
human reason they could not have been
more excited, more free with their advice,
or less capable Of Offering any real assist
ance. Beyond dashing from place to place
and screaming the birds, other than the
orioles. did nothing, but the two sisters
Of the prisoner not only flashed about and
screamed, but occasionally one Of them
would catch the trapped bird by tail
feather and give her a yank AS It hap
pened. this pulling only seemed TO wedge
the unfortunate bird the tighter in the
fork.
To the spectator in tho garden the fate
of the bird seemed sealed beyond help and
because Of this he looked with astonish-
ment on the three male orioles, all or
whom were seated close together where
they could see the hanging bird, and not
one Of whom futtered a feather or made
a move. But just as the gardener was
concluding that the female must die, one
Of the male orioles, presumably the mate
Of the prisoner, few to the place where
grasped her by the back Of the neck with
his bill, and bracing himself gave
mighty tug that pulled her free Then he
dropped her. Instantly recovering herself,
she ncw to a nearby limb and began ar,
ranging her badly rumpled clothes
A lady from New York who had gone TO
the country for the summer season found
a couple Of orioles about her country home,
and began to look for their nest Tho male
watched her closely all the time sitting
quietly near by until she struck what
might be called hot trail to the nest.
Then he became all animation, nuttering
about TIL she was interested in his move
ments, and then leading her gradually to
another tree, where a ragged last years
nest Of some other bird could be plainly
seen. To this nest the oriole few, and hop
ping on its brin, peered into IL as he might
have done into his own nest. The lady
thinks he was playing game on her.
All sorts Of birds make war on the egg
stealing crow, and the klngbird is COM
monty supposed TO be the leader in such
onslaughts. one observer has noted that
when the crow is at rest on tree the
kingbird also sits down and leaves the
crow unmolested until ne flies away Not
so the oriole. A crow having approached
his home, the oriole, with harsh cries,
attacked the Intruder. The crow took
refuge in tree, but the oriole followed
to the same limb, and then leaped from
one side of the crow to the other, strik-
ing a his enemys head with every leap,
and stepping on the limb between times
to scold and shake and nod his head
about defantly. The crow few TO a pine
and settled among the needles Of the ex-
IRENE top. apparently thinking to be safe
there, but the agile oriole dropped on him
from directly overhead, scared aloft and
dropped again, and then again and again
until the thief was driven entirely away.
A lady who was one day watching a
pair of red starts as they worked in a
tree was startled by violent commotion
that arose in the shrubbery hard by Cat
birds screamed, wrens scolded, and the
robins shouted, quick! quick" with all
their might. chpmunk was dragging
a baby catbird by the leg from it's nest,
and all the birds round about had come to
help make a row about It, including a
Baltimore oriole. The screaming and the
swish Of wings as the birds darted about
made the little squirrel abandon its prey,
and then the commotion subsidized almost
as quickly as it had arisen All the birds