Baltimore Oriole. The Golden Robin, Fire Bird or Hang-nest, as this bird is 

 sometimes called, is of more importance to the fruit grower than the gi-ain farmer, 

 as it gleans its food entirely among the branches, only visiting- the ground for 

 material with which to construct its purse-like nest. Its ludil cdiisists largely of 

 leaf-eating caterpillars and beetles. It is also particularly foml of the moths 

 which frequent the trees for the purpose of laying their eggs : of these moths it 

 devours large numbers, and in this way it materially assists in keeping down the 

 army of leaf eaters which so frequently stri]3 our trees of their foliage. Very 

 few of our birds will eat a haiiy caterpillar, but when they eat a female moth 

 before she has laiil her eggs they destroy at one stroke a whole brood of these 

 pernicious creatures, and to this work the (Jriole devotes itself with great industry. 

 I have on several occasions obtained a brood of young Orioles and hung them 

 out in a cage near my hous°, for the purpose of discovering the nature of the food 

 bi-ought to them, and found that fully one-half consisted of moths : unfortunately 

 I did not keep a record of the number of these brought in any one day, but it 

 was very large, and the usefulness of this bird in keeping down the swarms of 

 destructive carei-pillars, by cutting off the source of supply, was clearly exempli- 

 fied. When the ( lui liis ripen the Oriole displays a certain partiality for fruit, 

 but the small (|uaiitity thiy take may well be spared them, more particularly as 

 it is only in this direction that they levy any toll for their services. The bril- 

 liant coloring of the male, his Hute like note, and the ingenuity displayed in the 

 construction of the nest, all commend these birds to the lover of nature, and 

 we could well spaiv a, tV w clicirirs f( ,v tlir sake of having tliem about our gardens, 



even if their usefulness was le>s pr )unced than it is. In the south-western 



portions of our I'ms jnee the Oichaid ( »rinle occurs. It ditiers from the Baltimore 

 in being smaller and in coloi- being chestnut and black, instead of the orange and 

 black which marks the present species. Its habits are much the same as those 

 of the familiar Baltimore, but it is too rare to have any economic value. 



WOODPECKERS, NUTHATCHES, TITMICE, ETC. 



The various species which constitute these families have been grouped 

 top;ether, because of certain similarities in their habits, although structurally they 

 (litfer widely. They are all tree climbers, and obtain the greatest part of their 

 food from the trunks of trees, some of them by laboriously digging out the grubs 

 which bore into the solid wood, others by prying into every crack and crevice of 

 the bark, where they find insects in various stages of development. 



Of the Woodpeckers we have in Ontario nine species, namely, the Pileated 

 Woodpecker (better known as the " Cock of the Woods "), the Arctic Three-toed 

 Woodpecker, the Amei-icaii Thive-t' mmI WiMiilpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Downy 

 Woodpecker, Yeliow-liell it'll W'uddpiM'kei-, ( ei|i leu -winged Woodpecker, Red- headed 

 Woodpecker, and Red-bellied Wdodpevker. The Hrst three are true birds of the 

 forest, very seldom showing themselves in the neighborhood of cultivation, so 

 that, although their services are of great value to the country, by reason of the 

 constant war they carry on against the borers, which are so injurious to our 

 timber, we need not consider them in this paper. The Hairy Woodpecker and 

 the Downy Woodpecker are two species that almost exactly resemble each other 

 both in habits and appearance, the only material difiference being in their size, 

 the Hairy Woodpecker measuring about nine inches in length, the Downy 

 about six inches. Their food, which consi.sts almost entirely of insects, is 

 2 



