The Blackbird Family 343 



pillars. For some weeks after they arrive from the 

 South the loud and joyous whistle of these birds resounds 

 from orchard, garden, and city street. 



How falls it, Oriole, thou hast come to fly 

 In tropic splendor through our northern sky? 

 At some glad moment was it nature's choice 

 To dower a scrap of sunset with a voice? 



Or did some orange tulip, flaked with black, 

 In some forgotten garden, ages back, 

 Yearning toward Heaven till its wish was heard 

 Desire unspeakably to be a bird? 



EDGAR FAWCETT 



The bullock oriole. In the western part of the United 

 States the bullock oriole takes the place of the Balti- 

 more oriole. Although less handsome, it resembles the 

 eastern species in appearance and habits. Its habit 

 of eating the black olive scale and various caterpillars, 

 including those of- the codling moth, entitle it to pro- 

 tection by fruit growers. 



The horned lark. The horned lark is not, like the 

 meadowlark, a member of the blackbird family. It is a 

 true lark related to the famous skylark of the Old World. 

 Horned larks may often be seen feeding in roads like 

 English sparrows. When they fly, they may be dis- 

 tinguished from sparrows by their longer wings. 



