BIRDS OF PEASEMARSH 



from the tops of the willows or the elms, or 

 among the orchard trees. Much as we have 

 wished to watch them weave their wonderful 

 nests, we have never been able to do so. They 

 choose a location so high and so sheltered by 

 the branches that all we could see were the 

 birds flying in with the material they had 

 gathered. By the middle or latter part of June, 

 when walking under the tree in which they have 

 built, we can sometimes hear the call of the 

 babies in the nest, which sounds like te-de-de, 

 te-de-de. 



If the Orioles were at all numerous in any 

 orchard it would be comparatively free from 

 caterpillars, and we should have no tent cater- 

 pillars in our gardens, and should never need 

 to spray currant and gooseberry bushes. It is 

 one of the birds that is important to the fruit 

 grower. On one occasion a person with a 

 small garden and one or two fruit trees bearing 

 their first blossoms declared the Oriole a 

 nuisance because it had picked some blossoms, 

 and hastily concluded that the Oriole should 

 be shot, together with other birds that had 

 wished to sample the blossoms. Such owners 

 of small gardens might consider that out in the 



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