A MIDSUMMER PRINCE. 239 



and by means of wings, bill, and claws are often able to 

 reach places of safety. In one instance a fledgling which 

 had broken both legs, and had been placed in a basket to 

 be fed by its parents, managed by wings and bill to raise 

 itself to the rim, and in a few days took its departure. To 

 this dexterity in the use of the bill as a prehensile organ, 

 the birds may owe their skill in weaving. 



The young are fed upon an insect diet, and mainly upon 

 caterpillars which are disgorged after having been proper- 

 ly swallowed by the parents. They leave the nest after a 

 fortnight, but are attended by the parent birds ten days 

 longer before being turned off to take care of themselves. 

 The food of the Baltimore oriole, old and young, is almost 

 entirely insectivorous, succulent young peas and the sta- 

 mens of cherry and plum flowers forming the only excep- 

 tions. These small robberies are but a slight compensation 

 for the invaluable services he renders the gardener in the 

 destruction of hosts of noxious insects. At first beetles 

 and hymenopterous insects form his diet, and he seeks 

 them with restless agility among the opening buds. As 

 the- season progresses, and the caterpillars begin to appear, 

 he forsakes the tough beetle, and rejoices in their juicy 

 bodies, being almost the only bird that will eat the hairy 

 and disgusting tent-caterpillar of the apple-trees. 



