BALTIMORE ORIOLE 255 



'edge of wing' ochre-yellow, sometimes orange with ochraceous tinge, 

 palest on chin and middle of abdomen, brightest on breast and cris- 

 sum." 



[A partial postjuvenal molt, involving the contour plumage and 

 the wing coverts but not the rest of the wings nor the tail, begins 

 early in July and produces the first winter plumage. Dwight says 

 of this plumage, in the young male: "Similar to previous plumage 

 but dull orange brown above and much brighter orange below, al- 

 though lacking the black areas of the adult. The greater and median 

 wing coverts become dull black, white tipped, the latter and the 

 lesser coverts orange tinged." 



[The first nuptial plumage is acquired by an extensive prenuptial 

 molt involving most of the plumage except the primaries, their 

 coverts, and the secondaries. The full orange and black body plumage 

 is assumed at this molt, the tertials and wing coverts being broadly 

 edged with white, and the black and yellow tail is acquired. Worn 

 brown primaries remain to distinguish young birds from adults. 



[A complete postnuptial molt occurs in July, producing the adult 

 winter plumage. This is practically the same as the adult nuptial 

 plumage, but the "feathers of the back are narrowly edged with dull 

 orange (absent in older birds), which also suffuses the median and 

 lesser coverts. The greater coverts, secondaries and tertiaries are 

 broadly edged with white." 



[The adult nuptial plumage is acquired by wear, during which the 

 white edgings in the wings largely disappear and the orange edgings 

 on the back are lost, producing the bright, clear orange and black 

 spring plumage of the male. 



[In the female, the molts are similar to those of the male, but there 

 is no striking change in the color pattern from one season to another. 

 The upper parts are yellowish olive, the wings dusky with white 

 tipped coverts and white edged flight feathers, and the under parts 

 are dull orange or yellowish. There is often more or less black on 

 the chin or throat, but it is usually very restricted in extent. How- 

 ever, in Manitoba we collected a breeding female, now in my collec- 

 tion, in which the throat is wholly black, as in a male, and the whole 

 head and neck are mainly black.] 



Food. — Waldo L. McAtee( 1926) gives the following comprehensive 

 summary of the Baltimore oriole's food: 



Caterpillars are the most important single element of the Oriole's food, forming 

 over a third of the total. The Baltimore is one of the birds that decidedly are 

 not afraid of spiny or hairy caterpillars and it has a good record against such 

 well-known pests as the fall webworm {Hyphantria lextor), spiny elm caterpillar 

 {Euvanessa antiopa), tussock caterpillar (Hemerocampa leucosligma) , forest tent 

 caterpillar (Malacosoma disslria), and larvae of the gipsy moth (Porthetria dis- 

 par), and browntail moth (Euprociis chrysorrhea). Orioles of this species have 



