THE ORIOLES, BLACKBIRDS, CROWS, AND JAYS. 157 



for by the destruction of noxious insects. Its services in the 

 latter direction are especially helpful because it feeds freely 

 upon tent caterpillars and other hairy larva' that very few 

 birds will touch. Even the spiny caterpillars of the Vanessa 

 butterfly are taken by it. Three of these orioles shot in an 

 Illinois orchard infested by canker-worms had eaten forty per 

 cent, of these pests and fifty per cent, of an injurious leaf- 

 chafer (Anomala binotata). Professor Aughey found that in 

 Nebraska the nestlings were fed freely with young Rocky 

 Mountain locusts, of which also the old birds ate large num- 

 bers. In Massachusetts these birds have been observed 

 feeding their nestlings with canker-worms. Professor Beal 

 states that caterpillars alone formed thirty-four per cent, of 

 the food of one hundred and thirteen specimens examined, 

 while vegetable matter of any sort had been eaten only to 

 the extent of sixteen per cent. In Arkansas these orioles 

 have been found to destroy great numbers of the catalpa 

 sphinx larva 1 , which when unmolested defoliate the catalpa- 

 Irees. This species is called the golden robin in some regions, 

 ''twas sitting at the window one day in May," wrote 

 Wilson Flagg many years ago, " when my sister called my 

 attention to a golden robin in a black-cherry tree, devouring 

 the common hairy caterpillars ; and we counted the number 

 he consumed while he remained on the branch. The time 

 that elapsed was just one minute by the watch, and during 

 this space he destroyed seventeen caterpillars. But it is 

 worthy of notice that he did not swallow the whole insect. 

 After seizing it in his bill, he carefully set his foot upon it, 

 tore it asunder, and swallowed a small portion taken from 

 the inside. He then seized others in succession, and in like 

 manner selected and devoured his favorite morsel. Had he 

 consumed the whole caterpillar five or six only would probably 

 have satisfied his appetite. 1 ' ' 



1 Agriculture of Massachusetts, 1861, part II. p. 52. 



