The Baltimore Oriole, although found throughout the Union, is so partial to particular sections or districts, that of two places not twenty miles distant from each other, while none are to be seen in the one, a dozen pairs or more may be in the neighbourhood of the other. They are fondest of hilly grounds, refreshed by streams.
Icterus Baltimore, Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of the United States, p. 51.
Oriolus Baltimore, Linn. Syst. Nat. p. 162.—Gmel. Syst. vol. i. p. 389.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i. p. 180.
Baltimore Oriole, Oriolus Baltimore, Wilson, Amer. Ornith. vol. i. p. 23. Pl. i. fig. 3. Male; and vol. vi. p. 83. Pl. 53. fig. 4. Female.
Baltimore Bird, Lath. Synops. vol. ii. p. 432.
Adult Male, three years old, in spring. Plate XII. Fig. 1.
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, 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 blended, glossy. Wings longish, somewhat rounded, the first quill being almost as long as the second and third, which are the longest. Tail longish, rounded, and slightly forked, the feathers rather narrow, and acuminate.
Bill and feet light blue. Iris orange. Head, throat, back part of the neck, fore part of the back, quills and larger secondaries, black, as are the two middle tail-feathers, and the base of all the rest. The whole under parts, the lesser wing-coverts, and the posterior part of the back, bright orange, deeply tinged with vermilion on the breast and neck. The tips of the two middle tail-feathers, and the terminal ends of the others, of a duller orange. Quills, excepting the first, margined with white.
Length 7¾ inches, extent of wings 12; bill ⅚ along the ridge, 11⁄12 along the gap; tarsus ¼, toe 1.