BLACKBIRDS, LARKS AND ORIOLES 



201 



gions. Throughout the year, insects make up 

 73 per cent of its food, grain, 5 per cent, and 

 weed-seeds, 12 per cent. During the insect sea- 

 son, insects constitute over 90 per cent of this 

 bird's food supply. As a destroyer of insects 

 and weeds, this bird is entitled to the most per- 

 fect protection that laws and public sentiment 

 combined can afford. 



In Montana, the Western Meadow-Lark ' 

 quite wearied me by the tiresome iteration, day 

 after day, of its one short, seven-word song. This 

 was it: 



$ 



As our "outfit" pulled over the smoothly 

 shaven Missouri-Yellowstone divide, in the 

 month of May, I think we heard that song re- 

 peated a thousand times, or less; and when 

 the wind blew hard for five long days without in- 

 termission, even that cheerful welcome at last 

 became irritating. 



The eastern Meadow-Lark inhabits the east- 

 ern half of the United States, and the western 

 species begins at the western edge of Iowa and 

 Missouri; but neither of them belongs to the Lark 

 Family ! 



The Baltimore Oriole, 2 or Hang-Nest, has 

 beautiful plumage of orange and black, a very 

 pleasing song, good habits, and therefore is one 

 of our feathered favorites. Either wdien perch- 

 ing or on the wing, it is a very graceful bird. It 

 is the most skilful builder in North America, 

 and constructs a strong and durable hanging 

 nest which is a marvel of intelligent and skilful 

 effort. The Oriole does not believe in having 

 boys make collections of Oriole eggs. The out- 

 ermost branches of a very tall and very drooping 

 elm are particularly suited to its views of an ideal 

 building site. 



The nest of this Oriole is bound to create in 

 the mind of any one who examines it attentively 

 a high degree of admiration for the mental ca- 

 pacity of its builder. Its superstructure is com- 

 posed very largely of long, spring-like horse- 

 hairs, so tightly woven together that even when 

 the end of a hair waves freely in the air, it is im- 



1 Sturnella neglecta. Average length, about 9.50 

 inches. 



2 Ic'te-rus gal-bu'la. Length, S inches. 



possible to pull it out. Here is genuine weaving, 

 done with hair and fibrous fragments of soft, 

 weathered bark. Let it be remembered at this 

 point that not even the higher apes know how to 

 weave a nest or a roof. 



The mouth of the Oriole's bag-like nest is thin 

 but strong, and terminates in an edge as thin 

 and firm as hair-cloth. A nest now before me is 



BALTIMORE ORIOLE AND NEST. 



five inches long, four inches in outside diameter 

 at a point half-way between bottom and top, 

 and its opening is two inches in diameter. For 

 a space of two inches, the horse-hairs of the upper 

 margin are wrapped around an elm-twig the size 

 of a slate-pencil. At no point are the walls more 

 than a quarter of an inch in thickness, and the 

 inside is as symmetrical and shapely as if the 

 nest had been woven around a form. 



The usefulness of the Baltimore Oriole is fully 

 equal to its beauty. As a destroyer of cater- 



