ORCHARD ORIOLE 201 



its food consists of small beetles, plant lice, flies, hairless caterpillars, 

 cabbage worms, grasshoppers, rose bugs, and larvae of all kinds, 

 while the few berries it may help itself to during the short time they 

 last are many times paid for by the great number of noxious insects 

 destroyed, and it certainly deserves the fullest protection." 



Barrows (1912) says that "two specimens were killed in an orchard 

 overrun with canker worms in Tazewell County, 111., in 1881, and the 

 contents of their stomachs studied by Professor S. A. Forbes. He 

 found that nearly four-fifths of their food was cankerworms, while 

 other caterpillars formed all but three percent of the remainder, this 

 being ants. Butler states that in Indiana when the young leave the 

 nest the whole family go into the cornfields and feed upon the insect 

 enemies of the corn." 



According to A. H. Howell (1924), this oriole "is a persistent hunter 

 of boll weevils, and is one of the few birds that has learned to seek out 

 and destroy this pest which hides in the cotton squares. Nearly one- 

 third of the stomachs of this species taken in the Texas cotton fields 

 contained boll weevils; the average number of weevils found in a 

 stomach was 2 and individual birds had eaten as many as 13 weevils 

 at a meal." 



Economic status. — The only arguments that can be advanced 

 against the orchard oriole as an economically valuable bird are the 

 claims that it eats the stamens in the blossoms of the fruit trees; that 

 it occasionally helps itself to various small fruits such as cherries, 

 strawberries, and raspberries ; and that it does some damage to grapes 

 and ripening figs. But the slight damage done is insignificant when 

 compared with the great good that it does in destroying harmful 

 insects, which make up 90 percent of its food. 



Behavior. — The orchard oriole is a gentle, friendly, and sociable 

 bird that lives in perfect harmony with many other birds in more or 

 less close association and seems to enjoy human environments. It is a 

 restless, lively bird, and not particularly shy, but since it spends most 

 of its time flitting about in the trees in search of insects, or keeping 

 out of sight among the foliage, it is not as easily observed as some 

 others. When it is singing freely in the spring, we are often attracted 

 to it by its voice and can catch a glimpse of its pretty colors and its 

 graceful, slender form as it hops from twig to twig, or makes short 

 flights among the branches, or hangs head downward to pry under a 

 leaf in search of its prey. During the courting season, an ardent male 

 may sometimes be seen to rise high above the treetops and to pour 

 out an ecstasy of song as it descends to its leafy shelter. 



Voice. — Aretas A. Saunders contributes the following study: "The 

 song of the orchard oriole consists of a series of rather rapid, musical 

 notes, exceedingly variable in time and pitch. As I study my 32 



