152 ORCHARD ORIOLE. 



thousand such circumstances, that they reason a priori from cause to 

 consequence ; providently managing with a constant eye to future 

 necessity and convenience. 



The eggs, one of which is represented in the same plate (fig. a), are 

 usually four, of a very pale bluish tint, with a few small specks of brown 

 and spots of dark purple. An egg of the Baltimore Oriole is exhibited 

 beside it (fig. b) ; both of these were minutely copied from nature, and 

 are suflficient of themselves to determine, beyond all possibility of doubt, 

 the diversity of the two species. I may add, that Charles W. Peale, 

 proprietor of the Museum in Philadelphia, who, as a practical naturalist, 

 stands deservedly first in the first rank of American connoisseurs, has 

 expressed to me his perfect conviction of the changes which these birds 

 pass through ; having himself examined them both in spring, and towards 

 the latter part of summer, and having, at the 2>rcsent time, in his pos- 

 session thirty or forty individuals of this species, in almost every grada- 

 tion of change. 



The Orchard Oriole, though partly a dependent on the industry of 

 the farmer, is no sneaking pilferer, but an open and truly beneficent 

 friend. To all those countless multitudes of destructive bugs and cater- 

 pillars, that infest the fruit trees in spring and summer, preying on the 

 leaves, blossoms, and embryo of the fruit, he is a deadly enemy ; devour- 

 ing them wherever he can find them ; and destroying, on an average, 

 some hundreds of- them every day; without offering the slightest injury 

 to the fruit, however much it may stand in his way. I have witnessed 

 instances where the entrance to his nest was more than half closed up 

 by a cluster of apples, which he could have easily demolished in half a 

 minute ; but, as if holding the property of his patron sacred, or con- 

 tidering it as a natural bulwark to his own, he slid out and in with the 

 greatest gentleness and caution. I am not sufficiently conversant in 

 entomology to particularize the difierent species of insects on which he 

 feeds ; but I have good reason for believing that they arc almost 

 altogether such as commit the greatest depredations on the fruits of the 

 orchard ; and, as he visits us at a time when his services are of the 

 greatest value, and, like a faithful guardian, takes up his station where 

 the enemy is most to be expected, he ought to be held in respectful esteem, 

 and protected by every considerate husbandman. Nor is the gaiety of 

 his song one of his least recommendations. Being an exceedingly 

 active, sprightly, and restless bird, he is on the ground — on the trees- 

 flying and carolling in his hurried manner, in almost one and the same 

 instant. His notes are shrill and lively, but uttered with such rapidity 

 and seeming confusion, that the ear is unable to follow them distinctly. 

 Between these he has a single note, which is agreeable and interesting. 

 Wherever he is protected, he shows his confidence and gratitude, by his 

 numbers and familiarity. In the Botanic Garden of my worthy and 



