WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



prehensile organ the birds may owe their skill in 

 weaving. 



The young are fed upon an insect diet, and main- 

 ly upon caterpillars, which are disgorged after hav- 

 ing been partially swallowed by the parents. They 

 leave the nest after a fortnight, but are attended 

 by the parent birds ten days longer before being 

 turned off to take care of themselves. The food 

 of the Baltimore oriole, old and young, consists 

 almost entirely of insects, but it is varied, in civil- 

 ized regions at any rate, by depredations upon the 

 garden. Succulent young peas appeal to him par- 

 ticularly; and he has the curious and mischievous 

 habit of robbing the cherry and plum blossoms of 

 their stamens and pistils, scattering, but not eat- 

 ing, the petals. These are small matters; but he 

 becomes a real pest to the vine-growers of the Hud- 

 son Valley, at least, by his apparently wanton 

 forays upon the ripening grapes. It does not ap- 

 pear that he eats these to any extent, but seems 

 simply to delight to thrust his beak into the biggest 

 and ripest berries of each cluster, tearing them 

 open, taking, perhaps, a sip of the juice, and then 

 attacking the next one. Thus he spoils for market 

 hundreds of clusters in a morning; and, as the 

 grapes are raised and sold principally for table 



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