BALTIMORE ORIOLE 257 



Irene G. Wheelock (1905) gives evidence concerning the food given 

 to the nestling orioles. She says: 



On the first day, feeding by regurgitation took place at intervals averaging 

 twenty minutes for each nestling. As the nest was not more than three feet 

 from the window, it was possible to watch just what was being done and to make 

 examination of the young as often as seemed expedient. * * * The food given 

 was the soft part of grasshoppers and dragon flies, and the larvae of different 

 species of insects mixed with green leaves — all thoroughly macerated and partially 

 digested. No traces of fruit were found. On the third day, the male was seen 

 to give the soft part of a dragon fly, having removed the wings in full view of the 

 observer, without first swallowing it himself. After the fourth day all food re- 

 corded was given in a fresh condition. In the case of this brood no fruit was fed 

 the nestlings, possibly because of the difficulty of procuring it. 



Gordon Boit Wellman (1928) adds another item of food to the 

 oriole's diet, and describes the skillful way in which the bird obtained 

 it. He writes: 



On May 13, 1928, I found a pair of Baltimore Orioles (Icterus galbula) feeding 

 on the larvae of a needle miner, probably Paralechia pinifoliella, in a pitch pine 

 (Pinus rigida). The tree could be observed closely from my study window and 

 the Orioles were seen feeding there each day until the twenty-second of the month. 

 Both birds worked alike; resting on one foot, the bird would pull down a needle 

 with the other foot, tuck it under the supporting foot with the bill, remove the 

 larva and continue to feed in this manner until the five or six needles within 

 reach were opened and held under the foot, then a new position would be taken. 

 The larvae were to be found about halfway down the needle, invisible from the 

 outside. The operation of removing the larva from a needle was done with such 

 skill that in no case did I find a needle broken or permanently bent. 



In regard to the birds eating fruit and vegetables, Walter B. 

 Barrows (1912) says: "It is true that it has a special fondness for 

 green peas, sometimes stripping the pods so freely as to cause con- 

 siderable complaint. It also punctures ripening grapes whenever it 

 has opportunity, but particularly where vines have run up into trees 

 or over arbors or shrubbery in such a way as to hide the bird while at 

 work. It is rare to hear complaints from grape growers, for where 

 the vines are numerous and properly pruned the Oriole seldom injures 

 them. Occasionally it attacks early apples and pears, digging holes 

 into the soft pulp and of course ruining each apple attacked." 



"By watching an oriole which has a nest," says F. E. L. Beal (1897), 

 "one may see it searching among the smaller branches of some neigh- 

 boring tree, carefully examining each leaf for caterpillars, and occa- 

 sionally trilling a few notes to its mate." Francis H. Allen (MS.) has 

 seen this oriole catch flies in the air; he has also watched the birds 

 taking nectar from trumpet creeper flowers. "They would peck into 

 the base of the corolla and into the mouth of the calyx after the corolla 

 had fallen. I could see the nectar glistening between their mandibles." 



William Brewster (1937) speaks of an adult female oriole eating 



