90 BIRD PARADISE 



maples very quietly, but they were no sooner 

 seated in the easy chairs of the branches than 

 they began to call loudly for the daily bread. 

 The old birds responded quickly to the call and 

 the more they responded the more there was of 

 the call. Orioles are true to their kind in giving 

 place to hunger that never seems to be appeased. 

 Bird hunger is a commodity that is always kept 

 in store and is always storing up the more — 

 never by any manner of means crying out enough. 

 I was hardly aware of orioles' value as a farm 

 helper, until I saw their work in supplying this 

 family with food. The old birds were busy every 

 moment, and I should conclude used in their 

 feasting almost every kind of bug, grub and in- 

 sect that we have in our lawns and gardens. I 

 was quite willing to contribute every squash bug 

 I had to the feast, and the orioles were quite will- 

 ing to take them. They caught many insects on 

 the wing, in fact levied on all the small creatures 

 in the trees or on the ground and kept it up 

 steadily during the hour they stayed with me. 

 The pleasant song of the bird had been laid aside, 

 old and young using the same call note. An- 

 other week and the family life will cease, not 

 to be known again until an entire year has 

 passed. 



