134 BIRDS OF OHIO. 



lessly. Its pendant nest is a familiar sight on almost every 

 street, after the leaves have fallen. 



Its food consists largely of injurious insects, particularly 

 caterpillars and the small plant and bark lice which are over- 

 looked by most other birds. It is true that some ripe fruit 

 is eaten, but so little, usually, that little harm is done. A 

 mulberry tree will prove a safeguard from anything which 

 the Baltimore Oriole might be inclined to do with other 

 fruit, for he does love ripe mulberries. 



This Oriole reaches our southern border early in the last 

 week of April, and loses little time in crossing the state, 

 passing south about September 5, in the northern, and the 

 10th in the southern counties. A few individuals may lin- 

 ger well toward October. 



184. (509.) SCOLECOPHAGUS CAROLINUS (Miill.). 121. 

 Rusty Blackbird. 



Synonyms: Scolecophagus ferrugineus, Quicalus ferrugineus, 

 Oriolus ferrugineus, Turdus carolinus. 

 Rusty Grackle, Thrush Blackbird. 

 Kirtland, Ohio Geol. Surv., 1838, 162. 



The little known Rusty Blackbird is a regular migrant 

 across the state both spring and autumn, usually fairly com- 

 mon but seldom, if ever, very prominent. In the southern 

 counties it is a tolerably common winter resident. As a 

 migrant it could do no harm if it would, except possibly to 

 the ripe corn crop. There is no evidence that it is ever 

 harmful. 



It is among the earlier spring birds, arriving during the 

 first week in March and remaining until the end of the first 

 week in May, returning again about the middle of Septem- 

 ber and remaining well into November, in the north. There 

 is one record for February 13, 1897, when a female was shot 

 in the marshes on Lake Erie. It must have wintered there. 



