226 
USEFUL BIRDS. 
sionally helps itself to green peas; but Dr. Harris tells us, 
in his work on insects injurious to vegetation, that this 
Oriole splits open the green pods for the sake of the weevil 
Fig. 84.—Pea - 
grubs contained in the peas, thereby greatly 
helping to prevent the spread of these noxious 
insects. 
charine nectar from fruit blossoms. It eats 
cherries, but seems to prefer Juneberries and 
Nuttall says that it takes the sac- 
weevil, much mulberries. Professor Beal says that several 
enlarged. 
Orioles that were shot in cherry trees had 
no cherries in their stomachs, but some seeds of J2ubus and 
Juneberries. John Burroughs told me years ago that it was 
very destructive to ripe grapes at his place on the Hudson 
River, but I have 
never heard of its in- 
juring grapes in Mas- 
sachusetts ; it usually 
leaves us before most 
grapes are ripe. 
Having catalogued 
the sins of this bird, 
let us sce what its 
good qualities are. 
Professor Beal finds 
that eighty-three and- 
four-tenths per cent. 
of the Oriole’s food 
consists of animal 
matter, caterpillars 
forming thirty-four 
per cent. of the 
whole. Evidently 
the Oriole is one of 
the first among the 
birds known to de- 
> inary 
RNY oy, 
: ARN \, 
Fig. 85.—a, b, tent caterpillars; c, eggs; d, cocoon. 
The caterpillars are eaten by Orioles. 
stroy hairy caterpillars, and for this alone it may be ranked 
as one of the chief friends of the orchardist and forester. 
The tussock, gipsy, brown-tail, tent, and forest caterpillars, 
