THE FAILURE OF ORCHARDS, AND ITS REMEDY. 201 



to pick up a beetle, caterpillar, or other insect, or perhaps a grain of corn. The 

 young of this species frequently have the whole upper part of the head tinged 

 with red, which, at the approach of winter, disappears, when merely a circular 

 line of that color is to be observed on the hind part, becoming of a rich vermilion 

 tint. Some writers have denounced this bird as unfit to live. But we have seen 

 no evidence that it is not a useful bird. 



Fig. 77. 



NEST OF A BALTIMOUE OBIOLE. 



The Orchard Oriole is one of the most valuable birds that pomologists can en- 

 courage to dwell among their fruit-trees, as they subsist almost exclusively on 

 noxious insects. The Baltimore Oriole is another bird of great value in apple- 

 orchards. It is exceedingly difficult for crows or hawks to take the eggs or the 

 young of these birds out of their nests, as every nest is usually suspended beneath 

 swaying branches, as represented by Fig. 77. A pair of Baltimore orioles were 

 accustomed to build their nest every year on a favorite pear-tree near the writer's 

 dwelling, in Central New York, several years ago; and it was an admirable sight 

 to observe the wonderful skill displayed by those birds in building their nest. 

 The first step was to procure a piece of wrapping-twine, one end of which was 

 wrapped three times around a horizontal branch just beyond the fork of a branch, 

 and the end was tucked beneath the main strand, so that the greater the stress or 

 weight on the string, the tighter it would clasp the branch. ~The other end was 

 then wrapped about the opposite branch of the fork, allowing the middle to hang 



