298 YEARBOOK OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
BALTIMORE ORIOLE. 
The Baltimore oriole or golden robin (Jeterus galbula) also feeds 
largely on caterpillars, which amount to 34 per cent of its summer 
food. When nesting, the oriole may be seen searching among the 
outer twigs of trees, examining every leaf in quest of its favorite food. 
In addition to caterpillars, it destroys many noxious beetles and plant 
and bark lice. Butits reputation is not unblemished. Some complaint 
has been made against it by fruit growers, and John Burroughs accuses 
it of destroying grapes. However, its peculations of this character 
are probably not very great, for in an examination of more than 100 
stomachs very little fruit was found, and that chiefly of wild varieties, 
while there was an entire absence of any remains indicating grapes. 
WARBLERS. 
The family of warblers is of wide distribution and comprises species 
that are usually small and brilliantly colored. These differ greatly 
among themselves in habits, some remaining in the deepest shades of 
the forest, while others frequent groves, orchards, shrubbery, and 
gardens. Some seek their food by running over the bark of trees 
like woodpeckers or chickadees; others are terrestrial; but the great 
majority live on the insects which they find upon the leaves of trees. 
While definite data are wanting as to the food of these birds, field 
observation indicates that it consists largely of small caterpillars and 
other insects that feed on the leaves of fruitand forest trees. Although 
warblers are, individually, small, their numbers are great, and the 
quantity of insects they destroy in the aggregate must be large. 
A single observation will illustrate the character of their work. In the 
month of May, 1900, when the apple trees had just expanded rosettes 
of small leaves and flower buds, a multitude of warblers of several 
species were seen going through an orchard examining these rosettes, 
and apparently pecking something from each. An investigation of 
the trees not yet reached by the warblers showed that each rosette 
contained from one to a dozen large plant lice, while a similar investi- 
gation of the trees explored by the birds revealed few of these insects. 
VIREOS, 
The vireos are similar to the warblers in habits. Several species 
commonly nest in the orchards and about the buildings, obtain their 
food from foliage, and so destroy many insects harmful to fruit trees. 
FOOD OF THE YOUNG BIRDS. 
All these species do good service to the orchard when rearing their 
young. Our small birds, even those that, when adult, feed on fruit or 
seeds, rev their young on insects. Nestlings can not digest hard sub- 
stances, such as beetles or hard seeds, so their parents select for them 
