Twitches the pack-thread I had lightly wound
About the bough to help his housekeeping—
Twitches and scouts by turns, blessing his luck,
Yet fearing me who laid it in his way,
Nor, more than wiser we in our affairs,
Divines the providence that hides and helps.
—James Russell Lowell, “Under the Willows.”
THE FIRE-BIRD.
This Oriole is one of the most brilliantly colored of our common birds. The name oriole is from “aureolus,” meaning, little bird in gold. Ruskin says that on the plumes of birds the gold of the cloud is put, that cannot be gathered of any covetousness.
There is a story to the effect that when, in 1628, Lord Baltimore was exploring the Chesapeake, worn out and discouraged, he was so much cheered by the sight and sound of the oriole that he adopted its colors as his own, hence the name, “Baltimore Oriole.”