Oriole

“ Among the birds, too, we should expect to find man> of our modern friends. The bright oriole with its long pendant nest, the many warblers and their sweet songs, the meadow lark with notes so full of exultant joy or of tender pathos that, heard in our land of long ago, they would almost seem to foreshadow the coming of the human soul. But was there no human eye to see ? Were there no shelters of skins and boughs under the oaks and firs of those picturesque A GLIMPSE INTO PREHISTORIC OREGON 11 islands? ”

“ The external similarity of the Mimeta and the Tropidorhynchus of the island of Bouru, one of the Moluccas, is perfectly wonderful, and has again and again deceived some of the best ornithologists, though the birds are structurally far apart. Another genus which has been referred to the Oriolidae, and may here be mentioned, is Sphecotheres, peculiar to the Australian Region, and distinguishable from the more normal orioles by a bare space round the eye. Orioles are shy and restless birds, frequenting gardens and woods, and living on insects and fruit. ”

“ The adult ♀ besides differing, as does the ♂, in heavier stripes below etc., has the whole pileum, occiput, upper neck, and sides of neck heavily streaked black and olive-green, and the throat and chest dull gray with whitish streaks. (A ♀ probably an older bird in the U. S. N. M. has the head neutral gray with an olive wash, very conspicuously streaked with black, the black streaks extending as in the others right to base of bill) .
Measurements.
Remarks.—The Black-headed Oriole has been recorded from Palawan and Calamianes Islands only in the Philippines. ”

“ The Ornis of the Hinterland varies considerably to that of the forest region, but many of the same forms are still to be met with. The birds on the whole are not nearly so bright in plumage; the brilliant Golden Oriole, however, is present, but the effects of its plumage lose in the great expanse; its colours need the subtle light and shade of the forest to enhance their beauty. Many of the species obtained at Gambaga are Senegambian, but, besides these, several forms from Kordofan, Abyssinia, and Eastern Africa are represented. ”

“ The discovery of a peculiar knoblike process on the palate of the mexican orioles belonging to the species Icterus gularis was one of the really surprising discoveries made during a more or less cursory examination of the palate in various species and genera of Icteridæ picked out at random, and it was the finding of this structure in an Oriole that led to a detailed examination of all of the material available. In Icterus gularis the palatal ridge is from 1.2 to 1.5 millimeters high at its anterior end (Fig. 2) . The [Pg 195] entire structure is broad and somewhat flattened. ”

“ They have long, curved, and sharp beaks, and powerful grasping claws; and they are quite able to defend themselves, often driving away crows and hawks which venture to approach them too nearly. The orioles, on the other hand, are weak and timid birds, and trust chiefly to concealment and to their retiring habits to escape persecution. In each of the great islands of the Austro-Malayan region there is a distinct species of Tropidorhynchus, and there is always along with it an oriole that exactly mimics it. ”

“ The orioles are beautiful, are sweet singers, and no exception can be taken to their food habits. Caterpillars are their principal article of food, but plant-and bark-lice, spiders and other insects are also eaten. Orioles do not eat much vegetable food. ”

“ At this same dip in the Meridian road, on a previous visit, I had experienced one of the pleasantest of my Tallahassee sensations. The morning was one of those when every bird is in tune. By the road side I had just passed Carolina wrens, house wrens, a chipper, a field sparrow, two thrashers, an abundance of chewinks, two orchard orioles, several tanagers, a flock of quail, and mocking-birds and cardinals uncounted. In a pine wood near by, a wood pewee, a pine warbler, a yellow-throated warbler, and a pine-wood sparrow were singing—a most peculiarly select and modest chorus. ”

“ Well, I also, in my life’s experience, have planted olives and watched them grow; and if I were to return to the spot, doubtless by this time I might reap some of the fruit of my labour. Who knows? perhaps the contents of this jar were gathered from those very identical trees! The thought is a pleasant one to myself, and will impart an extra relish to the flavour. That was in a large oil district in Syria, where the whole of the high land was devoted to the cultivation of the olive tree, both for the sake of the fruit and the oil it yields ”

“ If their oil has merit it is because it was properly made. Italy is the fountain head. Italy has long been the source of all the good oil we have ever known. Italy has carried the cultivation of this tree to greater perfection than any other country on the globe. How can we then do better than follow the classification of Professor Caruso, Professor of Agriculture of the National University of Pisa, who at the instance of the Italian Government has given to the world a monograph on the olive which is perhaps the most profound and exhaustive work on the subject that has yet been written. ”

“ Elwood Cooper's Treatise on olive culture: Extending from the promontory of Saint Tropez, in France, to Lavonia, in Italy, in the gulf of Genoa, Nice is situated, whose reputation for the best oil has succeeded all other places in the world.
Bernays. The finest kinds of oils have hitherto come from Provence, in France, and Lucca, in Italy; the commoner from the Levant, Mogador, Spain, Portugal and Sicily. The olive tree will thrive and be most prolific in dry, calcareous, schistous, sandy or rocky situations; it will bear sooner and be more prolific than if grown in the rich soil. ”

“ Lime, abounding phosphates, magnesia, with an abundance of silicates of alum and mercury, and a sufficiency of potash and soda, are the chemical and physical requisites which this tree will find most advantageous to its development, and cause it to produce abundantly, and, provided other circumstances are equal, give the very best oil. It is seen that the olive will flourish wherever its roots will penetrate easily, and there is no deficiency of lime and alkali, such as a loose soil of rocky clay, or sand of volcanic or granite formation. ”

“ Oruro is almost exclusively a mining department, the country being too arid for agriculture, with the exception of a narrow strip in the foothills of the Cordillera de los Frailes, where a few cattle, mules and llamas, and a considerable number of sheep are reared. The mineral wealth has not been fully developed except in the vicinity of the capital, in the north-east part of the department, where there are large deposits of tin, silver and copper, Oruro being the second largest producer of tin in the republic. ”

“ Olivine rarely occurs in crystals, but when it does they belong to the orthorhombic system. The dark-green grains or masses are recognized by the color, considerable hardness and indistinct cleavage. Serpentine may have a similar color, but its hardness is only 4. In hydrochloric acid olivine decomposes to a gelatinous mass.
Olivine is typically one of the constituents of the dark lavas, like basalt, gabbro, or peridotite. It is also a common mineral in meteorites. Olivine, in the presence of water, alters to other minerals, especially serpentine, with great facility. ”

“ The yield of the olive is of two kinds, oil which is well known and amurca, of the use of which many are so ignorant that one can often see it streaming from the mill and wasting upon the ground where it not only discolours the soil, but in places where it collects even makes it sterile: while if applied intelligently it has many uses of the greatest importance to agriculture, as, for instance, by pouring it around the roots of trees, chiefly the olive itself, or wherever it is desired to destroy weeds. ”

“ Many species are prettily marked by nature, others are rendered handsome by polishing. O. subulata is small, and pointed like a mitre. The common olive is white, with brown, waved lines. O. irrisans is ornamented with yellow zigzag lines: it has two brown zones. O. oriza, the little rice-olive, is white.
"I should have noticed the small genus Ancilla, formerly Ancillaria, which is very near both to Terebellum and Oliva. The columella has a varix at the base, which distinguishes it from Terebellum, and it wants the canal which separates the volutions of Oliva.
"There are several fossil species. ”

“ Oolie has a fine voice and sings in the village church every Sunday. The druggist's clerk whom I saw in town is the basso of the choir, and seems to feel it incumbent upon him to accompany the girl home. He is rather good-looking; but I think I had better go to the choir meetings myself to bring her home, as she might take a fancy to this Mr. Lee and she is quite too young to be thinking of these things—quite too young. Not that I am so very old either, twenty-six—that would not sound old in speaking of any one else. I suppose that it seems very old to Oolie. ”

“ The small olive of Syria is considered the most delicate, and Italian olives also are very fine; those of Spain are larger and coarser. The best olive-oil comes from the south-eastern portion of France and is a clear, pure liquid; it is obtained from the first pressing of the fruit. This must be only a gentle squeeze, to get the purest oil: the quality usually sold is made by a heavier pressure; and then, when the olives are worked over again, come the dregs, which are not fit for table-use."
"Do they mash 'em, like making apples into cider?" asked Malcolm. ”

“ It is also used in pharmacy.
[67] Payen.
OL′IVE. Syn. Olea, Oliva, L. The Olea Europæa (Linn.) , a native of the South of Europe. The unripe fruit is preserved in brine (Spanish olives, French olives) ; the ripe fruit furnishes olive oil; the bark is bitter, astringent, and febrifuge, and has been used as a substitute for cinchona bark; it yields a gum-like substance (OLIVE GUM) , which was formerly reported vulnerary, and contains olivine. The olive tree has in all ages been held in peculiar estimation as the bounteous gift of Heaven to man. ”

“ In California where the black scale has pretty generally appeared and caused great havoc among the orange trees of the southern part of the State, the trees when young should be sprinkled with a whisk broom dipped in a bucket containing a mixture in equal parts of sulphur and whale oil dissolved in hot water; and if any olive grower is ready to act the moment those insects begin to appear here and there on any of his trees, he will easily prevent their spreading to others. ”

“ The olive is fond of a chalky soil, that is, one largely made up of lime carbonates. The carbonate of lime is indispensable to vegetable life; and it is noticed, that the oil from olives grown on a calcareous soil, is better than that from a soil lacking in this element. Chalky soils are cold, because they do not easily absorb the heat of the sun. For the same reason red soils are warm, absorbing and retaining a great degree of heat. The best soil for the olive is that in which lime predominates ”

“ In Spain olives will average, taking the country over, thirty-two trees to the acre, and in estimating for oil it is customary to reckon every six trees as good for four gallons of oil. Here we may safely calculate on our trees, averaging one year with another, a gallon of oil per tree, and hope for as much more as we please. Also olive culture in Spain is susceptible of improvement. The yield could be much increased by giving more care and attention to the orchards. Their methods are very crude and the people very poor. ”

“ Whence it appears not to be true as has been heretofore believed, that the berries which are roundish and enlarged at the extremity vary in form from the nut and are therefore more fleshy and oily than the pointed ones. Greater fleshiness only can increase the oiliness of the fruit and this is entirely independent of the shape it may assume. In truth the richest in oil are the olives of Group I, or the oil press olives, which resemble in form the Morajolo, the Mignolo and even the very wild olive, that is to say are pointed and not round. ”

“ A man stands waiting just within the shadow. But see! a girl's light figure moves out from the side doorway and joins him. A strange calmness comes over me, although I see in the clear moonlight that it is Oolie. They walk off down the old garden path, and I can not turn my eyes or ears away if I would. Now she speaks brokenly, and I even hear her say, "It is a living death," and they pass on. I do not hear Arthur Lee's words, deep and full-toned as they are. ”

“ Such a soil would give passage to moisture, and offers no obstacle to the extension of the roots, and at the same time has consistency enough to sustain the tree and preserve the elements of nutrition. The oxide of iron exists in all soils, but where it abounds, the red color declares it. It is favorable to the growth of the olive, particularly in cold regions. ”

“ I only see Oolie at rare intervals, and she is as cool as ever. She does not know—the little owlet—that I hold the memory of that fluttering kiss. But why can I not lure her to my side again? Mrs. Austin seems more melancholy and retired than ever, but is most undoubtedly anxious that I should care for Oolie, and perhaps this acting on her sensitive nature makes an involuntary revolt. ”

“ In Africa—both in Morocco and Algiers—in order to secure a crop it becomes absolutely necessary to give them water. In Valencia and Murcia, Spain, it is the usual practice to water the olive, and indeed with a loose soil and dry climate the irrigated trees respond with the surest crop. ”