PEPACTON 



and in the western part of New York and in Ohio 

 and in Canada, I hear the vineyards suffered se- 

 verely from the depredations of the oriole. The 

 oriole has a sharp, dagger-like bill, and he seems to 

 be learning rapidly how easily he can puncture fruit 

 with it. He has come to be about the worst cherry 

 bird we have. He takes the worm first, and then 

 he takes the cherry the worm was after, or rather 

 he bleeds it ; as with the grapes, he carries none 

 away with him, but wounds them all. He is wel- 

 come to all the fruit he can eat, but why should he 

 murder every cherry on the tree, or every grape in 

 the cluster? He is as wanton as a sheep-killing 

 dog, that will not stop with enough, but slaughters 

 every ewe in the flock. The oriole is peculiarly 

 exempt from the dangers that beset most of our 

 birds: its nest is all but impervious to the rain, 

 and the squirrel, or the jay, or the crow cannot rob 

 it without great difficulty. It is a pocket which it 

 would not be prudent for either jay or squirrel to 

 attempt to explore when the owner, with his dagger- 

 like beak, is about ; and the crow cannot alight 

 upon the slender, swaying branch from which it is 

 usually pendent. Hence the orioles are doubtless 

 greatly on the increase. 



There has been an unusual number of shrikes the 



past fall and winter; like the hawks, they follow 



in the wake of the little birds and prey upon them. 



Some seasons pass and I never see a shrike. This 



180 



