176 



BIRDS OP PENNSYLVANIA. 



hidden treasures from sun and rain, will construct a canopy of strings, 

 etc., above the top of their house. The eggs, commonly five in number, 

 are a little larger than those of the Orchard Oriole. They are whitish, 

 dotted, blotched, spotted and sinuously lined with black and brown. 

 The Baltimore Oriole feeds chiefly on various forms of insect-life. 

 The destructive apple-tree caterpillars, as well as other caterpillars, 

 are destroyed in great quantities by these birds, who not only sub- 

 sist to a considerable extent on these and other larvae, but likewise, 

 Nuttall states, feed their young principally on soft caterpillars. The 

 Orioles also capture large numbers of beetles, flies, spiders, etc., in the 

 fruit and forest trees. They occasionally feed on the blossoms of the 

 apple, pear, maple and other trees. A juicy cherry is relished, and 

 different kinds of small berries are fed upon to a more or less extent. 

 Mr. Gentry in relation to this species says : " This Oriole deserves our 

 favor and esteem for the numerous insects of an injurious character 

 which it destroys, which thus compensate for the trifling injuries 

 which it commits in the destruction of the succulent pea and the blos- 

 soms of the cherry and apple which it rifles of their stamens and 

 ovaries." 



* Feeding on hickory trees. 



