His home is a sort of hempen hammock, only deeper and more pocket-shaped, to keep the babies from falling out, as Nat and Dodo both did out of our hammock yesterday." "This nest Mrs.B.Oriole twines herself, from plant fibres, adding strings of cotton or worsted when she has a chance to find any.

She secures it to the end of a strong supple twig, usually at a good height from the ground, and she likes an elm tree best of all, because it is not easy for cats or House People to climb far out on the slender swaying branches.

Up there the eggs and young are safely rocked by the wind and sheltered by leaves.

A cat may look at a king, and also at an Oriole's nest, but the looking will not do her much good in either case.
[Illustration: Baltimore Oriole.] "Mamma Oriole sits on the nest, which is almost closed over her head, and keeps all safe.

Though she does not sing to House People, how do we know but what she whispers a little lullaby like this, on stormy nights, to her nestlings?
"Rains beat! Winds blow! Safe the nest in the elm tree.
Days come! Nights go! Birds at rest in the elm tree.
To-and-fro, to-a-n-d-fro, Safe are we from every foe-- Orioles in the elm tree.
Cats come! Cats go! Lullaby in the elm tree! "Meanwhile B.Oriole does a great deal of work, for he is a tireless member of the guilds of Tree Trappers and Ground Gleaners, eating hosts of caterpillars, wireworms, and beetles.