A^^NUAL, BIEETING AT LEXINGTON. 319- 



opportunity to make an exhaustive study of him in his relations to the 

 fruit crop. He is one of our tamest birds, as well as one of our sweet- 

 est singers. I, therefore, would beg that persons entertaining the 

 least doubt, would give the bird the benefit of the doubt. 



The Orchard Oriole — This little fellow with his black head, wing,. 

 and tail and chestnut body- color, or little lady with black trimmings 

 and yellowish-olive body-covering. I am, as a result of a series of in- 

 vestigations undertaken at the instigation of the President of the Mis- 

 souri State Horticultural Society, forced to render some evidence 

 against. He will nip a grape occassionally, nor does he wait upon the 

 occasion. 



Last summer in an arbor where I had an opportunity of watching 

 some, that had evidently nested near, I found them among the vines 

 earl}^ indeed. The greater part of their work, I was soon convinced 

 from their activity, was capturing insects. On several occasions I was 

 convinced the bird attacked the grape. Going immediately to the 

 spot I found at least one grape that he had taken in his month and 

 squeezed thoroughly ; the skin of course being broken in each case ; 

 and at least a part of the pulp gone. But for every berry in the arbor 

 so injured I found several as efi'ectually ruined by being punctured 

 with a little round hole through which I found the bees Were feeding. 



Later, on shooting some of these birds and dissecting them on the 

 spot, I found in at least three of them (I shot four) traces of grapes; 

 though the crop was pretty well filled with insects — to which the bees 

 were not exceptions. 



The Bee Martin or Kingbird is a true fly catcher and is not over- 

 choice in his diet. His principal want in life seem to be quantity and 

 not quality ; the one problem to the solution of which he devotes him- 

 self with, one assiduity worthy of a more noble cause, is, how to se- 

 cure the largest amount of food with the least possible outlay of exer- 

 tion. Hence, he hovers over the bee-hive simply because it saves 

 labor. He never disturbs fruit. He does disturb bees, and bees will 

 disturb fruit, at least, after the skin is broken. 



The Bee Martin if he locates near your orchard or vineyard does 

 so, because he finds food convenient — insect food. He can not afford 

 to waste vital energy securing food. He needs all his vital energy to 

 whip everything else that wears feathers and flies in sight of his domi- 

 cile. He will tolerate no invasion of his pre-empted grounds. As I 

 said before, he cares little as to the quality of his food, if it only ranks 

 up well in quantity. 



I once dissected a Bee Martin, which, from the number of pairs of 

 wings I found. I was convinced had that morning eaten thirteen Colo- 



