The Baltimore Oriole. 



truit he gives to the farmer, fruit which but 

 for him would be eaten up by the grubs, or 

 having been stung by insects would drop 

 off from the trees before ripening. 



But there are some people who believe 

 that the Oriole does a great deal of harm. 

 They say that he eats the peas in spring 

 and destroys grapes in great numbers in the 

 autumn. 



Perhaps the Baltimore is not altogether 

 perfect. He does visit the pea vines, but 

 It is probably more to get the insects which 

 gather about the sweet white blossoms than 

 to eat the peas. But even if he should 

 take a few of them, what a trifle in money 

 value this loss would be when compared 

 with the great good that he does by de- 

 stroying the insects ; and the same thing is 

 true with regard to the few grapes he may 

 eat. Without the Oriole, and other birds 

 who do such work as he, we might not have 

 any vines at all on which to grow grapes. 

 There are many learned people who believe 

 that the terrible disease, due to a small in- 

 sect, which has destroyed so many of the 

 finest vineyards in France, is caused by the 

 wholesale killing of birds which takes place 

 in that country. The Oriole may do some 

 little harm in the way indicated, but his 

 services to man are very great and far out- 

 weigh the value of a few small fruits. 



Soon after the Orioles reach the place 

 which they have chosen for their summer 

 home they select their mates. Sometimes 

 sharp battles take place between two male 

 birds for the favor of a female, and the 

 rivals chase one another here and there 

 with shrill cries of anger, while the female 

 looks on with interest to see which of her 

 admirers will be the conqueror in the fight. 

 As soon as the birds have paired, each 

 couple begins to look about for a suitable 

 place for the nest. This is built usually in 

 an elm or sycamore tree, though sometimes 

 in a cherry or pear, or as in the illustration, 

 in a tulip tree. It is a structure of wonder- 

 ful skill and ingenuity, a neatly woven purse 



or pouch-shaped bag of varying depth, con- 

 structed of long strings, sometimes of the 

 fibre of the milkweed, or of horse-hair or of 

 the threads of the Spanish moss of the 

 South, the whole forming, as Nuttall re- 

 marks, "a sort of coarse cloth." The nest 

 is usually placed at the forking of two 

 twigs, one side of it being attached to either 

 of them, but sometimes it is fastened to one 

 twig by one side only. We have seen one 

 nest, built in a pear tree, which was formed 

 entirely of black and brown horse-hairs 

 without any other material whatever. 



The birds readily gather up and work 

 into their nests any bits of string or tow 

 which they may find, and we knew of one 

 house where it was the custom for the chil- 

 dren in spring, when the Orioles were build- 

 ing, to put out on the lawn bits of blue and 

 red worsted or yarn. These the birds 

 would take and weave into their nests, thus 

 adding a little bright color to their sober 

 gray homes. Mr. Nuttall speaks of a case 

 where a female which he was watching car- 

 ried off to her nest a piece of lampwick ten 

 or twelve feet long. He says further : 

 " This long string, and many other shorter 

 ones, were left hanging out for about a 

 week before both the ends were wattled into 

 the sides of the nest. Some other little 

 birds, making use of similar materials, at 

 times twitched these flowing ends, and gen- 

 erally brought out the busy Baltimore from 

 her occupation in great anger." 



In the South the network of the nest is 

 open, and there is little or no lining, so that 

 the air may circulate freely through it, but 

 in the Northern States the fabric is more 

 closely woven and hair or down is often 

 used to thicken it and make the nest 

 warm. 



The work of building the nest is taken 

 part in by both birds. Sometimes the 

 female does almost all the weaving and the 

 male brings the materials to her, and ai 

 others the male is the architect. It is a 

 busy time for both of them, and no doubt 



