INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 451 



wing Blackbirds are very destructive in the upper Mississippi Valley, but 

 with us are beueticial. 



I have not time to go over a list of birds to be found about the orchard. 

 Blackbirds are to be found. Orioles are great insect eaters, and are 

 especially fond of caterpillars. Beal found that they formed 34 per cent, 

 of the food of the Baltimore Oriole. The Orchard Oriole is less studied 

 but is probably more beueticial. Reports, however, have come from some 

 localities in the State that they are very bad about eating the grapes, 

 and it would be interesting to know if they have changed their food 

 habits. 



Meadow Larks are decidedly beneficial. Practically 73 per cent, of 

 their food is insects. The Yellow Hammer and Meadow Lark are two of 

 the most beneficial birds in the orchard. Ground insects chiefly form 

 their food. They should be encouraged in every way possible. 



The Cedar Waxwing is largely a fruit eater. It eats mostly wild 

 fruits but also catches many insects. The greatest complaint is on ac- 

 count of its eating cherries. 



The Vireos obtain their food chiefly from leaf eating insects, and 

 from those about the blossoms of trees. There are different kinds of 

 these birds, such as the Warbling, the Red-eyed, the Yellow-throated, 

 and the White-eyed. 



The Yellow Warbler is common through the summer and there are 

 many other kinds of Warblers found during migration. They eat insects 

 found about the leaves, blossoms and fruits. 



Wrens, of which there are four kinds with us, the Carolina, Bewick's, 

 House and Winter, all eat insects about the outbuildings, fence rows and 

 orchards. 



Brown Thrashers eat about 64 per cent, animal food, practically all 

 insects, and most of them are injurious. They eat 8 per cent, of culti- 

 vated fruits, such as raspberries and currants. They are very useful birds. 



Almost half of the food of the Catbird is animal, and is chiefly in- 

 jurious insects, and the other half of its food is vegetable. al)out one- 

 third of which is fruits that are or may be cultivated. It sometimes does 

 much harm but can not be called injurious. The damage of this bird can 

 be lessened. 



The Brown Creeper, Nuthatches, Chickadee, and Titmice are all very 

 beneficial birds. Most of them work about the trees the whole year 

 through, destroying countless destructive insects, their larvae and eggs. 

 The Chickadees are especially destructive of the eggs of the canker 

 worm. The Brown Creeper is very destructive of the moth. Kinglets 

 protect the smaller twigs from their insect enemies. 



The Robin is better known than most of our birds. There is a great 

 deal of complaint about its eating cultivated fruits, especially cherries 

 nnd berries, but in investigating the stomachs of llioso biids it lias been 

 found that there are only four per cent, of cultivated varieties and nearly 



