226 



USEFUL BIRDS. 



Fig. 84. -Pea 



weevil, much 

 enlarged. 



sionally helps itself to green peas ; but Dr. Harris tells us, 

 in his work on insects injurious to vegetation, that this 

 Oriole splits open the green pods for the sake of the weevil 

 grubs contained in the peas, thereby greatly 

 helping to prevent the spread of these noxious 

 insects. Nuttall says that it takes the sac- 

 charine nectar from fruit blossoms. It eats 

 cherries, but seems to prefer Juneberries and 

 mulberries. Professor Beal says that several 

 Orioles that were shot in cherry trees had 

 no cherries in their stomachs, but some seeds of Rubus and 

 Juneberries. John Burroughs told me years ago that it was 

 very destructive to ripe grapes at his place on the Hudson 

 River, but I have 

 never heard of its in- 

 juring grapes in Mas- 

 sachusetts ; it usually 

 leaves us before most 

 grapes are ripe. 



Having catalogued 

 the sins of this bird, 

 let us see what its 

 good qualities are. 

 Professor Beal finds 

 that eighty-three and 

 four-tenths per cent, 

 of the Oriole's food 

 consists of animal 

 matter, caterpillars 

 forming thirty-four 

 per cent, of the 

 whole. Evidently 

 the Oriole is one of 

 the first among the 

 birds known to de- 

 stroy hairy caterpillars, and for this alone it may be ranked 

 as one of the chief friends of the orchardist and forester. 

 The tussock, gipsy, brown-tail, tent, and forest caterpillars, 



Fig. 85. a, I), tent caterpillars; c, eggs; d, cocoon. 

 The caterpillars are eaten by Orioles. 



