1G2 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



The Baltimore Oriole or golden robin, is remarkably familiar 

 and fearless of man, hanging its beautiful nests in our garden 

 trees. He is one of the moat interesting features of country 

 landscape. In the spring the oriole's food consists almost entirely 

 of caterpillars, beetles and other insects that injure the trees 

 and fruit. There are few birds that do more good in this way. 

 Though sometimes they eat our grapes from the vines and peck 

 at the fruit on the trees, it is usually because they want a drink 

 that they do this. One good man placed pans of water in his 

 orchard, and he soon noticc^d that not only the orioles, but other 

 birds came to the pans for a drink instead of disturbing the 

 fruit. 



All woodpeckers, of which there are many varieties, are of 

 vaule to the farmer. About three-fourths of their food consists 

 of insects, wood-boring beetles, many caterpillars, mostly those 

 species that burrow into trees, and many ants that are particu- 

 larly harmful to timber, these insects not being accessible to other 

 birds, are sought after by the woodpeckers, whose beaks and 

 tongues are especially fitted for such work, dig out and devour 

 them. 



If the farmer only thought of it, he would begin to think that 

 part of every corn crop rightfully belongs to the blackbirds. 

 When the corn is young he cannot see the grubs, but the birds 

 can and they take many thousands in a day. These birds have 

 been much abused on account of the farmer not knowing that 

 they actually more than compensated him for the mischief seem- 

 ingly done, by the benefit they confer in the destruction of grub- 

 worms and other deadly foes whose secret work destroys vege- 

 tation. 



The robin — often called " morning bird," glad harbinger of 

 spring, wakes us with his warbling early in the morn. This bird 

 courts the society of man following closely upon the plow spade 

 and hoe. To be sure he feeds for a month or so on our strawberries 

 and cherries, but his general diet is that of insects and worms 

 picked out of the ground. He destroys the larvae of many insects 

 in the soil and is a positive blessing to mankind. 



