SONG BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 227 
the fall webworm, and even the spiny caterpillar of the 
mourning cloak butterfly, —all are greedily eaten by the 
Baltimore; and it does not usually swallow many, but 
merely kills them and eats a small portion of the inner 
parts. It thus destroys many more than would be needed 
to satisfy its appetite were they swallowed whole, while at 
the same time no recognizable portion of the 
caterpillar can be found in the bird’s stomach. 
This is a habit about which, like many others, 
we can learn only by observation. Mr. Nash 
received a number of reports from correspond- 
ents in 1900 regarding the clearance of tent 
caterpillars from trees by these birds. They Fig. 86.—click 
were watched day after day, and in the end ™enlareed- 
cleared the orchards of the pests. An Oriole was seen to 
finish one nest of small caterpillars and begin on another 
while the observer was eating his breakfast. Young Ori- 
oles are fed very largely on injurious moths and caterpillars. 
The Baltimore Oriole is worth its weight in gold for its ser- 
vices in destroying both gipsy and brown-tail moths. The 
bird is particularly fond of snap 
We beetles or click beetles, the par- 
Yi ents of the destructive wireworms. 
A fe Professor Beal says that more than 
mA: five hundred species of these 
beetles are found in North Amer- 
Fig. 87.—Cucumber beetle, nat- ica, and their larve are exceed- 
uml lies and eureulloe, MCh ingly injurious to a great variety 
Orioles. of plants, particularly to corn, 
grass, and garden crops. As they attack the roots or work 
within the stalks, they are very difficult to control. Many 
birds eat either the beetles or larve. The very injurious 
May beetles and other leaf-eating beetles are taken by the 
Oriole, among them the striped squash beetle or cucumber 
beetle, one of the most destructive pests of the garden. 
Bagworms, curculios, wasps, bugs, plant lice, scale insects, 
March flies, and crane flies are among the insects eaten by 
this bird. 
