240 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



least among the first 20 for melody, but far excels the majority in familiarity, 

 in fact, rivaling the Robin in this respect. The orioles arrive from the 

 27th of April to the 8th of j\fay in the warmer portions of the State, 

 depending upon the season, in the northern districts sometimes not 

 appearing until the loth or even the 20th. They immediately pair and 

 begin building. By the 15th or the 20th of May fresh eggs may be found 

 in the southern portions of the State; or from the 25th of May to the loth 

 of June in cases where the first nest was destroyed; and in the northern 

 portions of the State, sometimes as late as the 20th of June. The period 

 of incubation is about 12 days and the female is an ideal mother, defend- 

 ing her young with great courage and caring for them in all kinds of weather. 

 The young, however, are not such ideal offspring as she ought to expect, 

 for they are, as Mrs JMiller has called them, the crybabies of the bird world. 

 From the time they begin to feather out until several days after they have 

 left the nest, they keep up a continual complaining cry for food. In this 

 way they are unquestionably located by many predaceous animals and 

 thereby destroyed. The young orioles are usually out of the nest from 

 the 20th of June to the 5th of July, and are very soon led away by the 

 old birds into the woods, groves and dense hedgerows. Then we hear 

 no more of the oriole's song until the latter days of August or the first 

 week in September, when, after the autumn moult has been completed, 

 the males frequently burst into melody for a few days before departing 

 for their winter home. This departure occurs between the loth and the 

 22d of September. The vernal song period almost always ends by the 

 12th of July, usually several days before then. The Baltimore oriole 

 is especially valuable to the horticulturist and forester on account of its 

 attacks upon the caterpillars of various species which feed upon the foliage 

 of trees. He even feeds upon the hairy caterpillars which are chosen 

 by few birds with the exception of the cuckoo, and destroys large numbers 

 of leaf -eating beetles or their larvae and devours also many aphids, rose 

 bugs and other hemiptera. Occasionally the oriole destroys a few cherries 

 and berries and frequently discovers the green peas of the garden, deftly 



