ORCHARD ORIOLE. 71 
thirty or forty individuals of this species, in almost every 
gradation of change. 
The Orchard Oriole, though partly a dependant on the 
industry of the farmer, is no sneaking pilferer, but an open, 
and truly beneficent friend. To all those countless multitudes 
of destructive bugs and caterpillars that infest the fruit trees 
in spring and summer, preying on the leaves, blossoms, and 
embryo of the fruit, he is a deadly enemy ; devouring them 
wherever he can find them, and destroying, on an average, 
some hundreds of them every day, without offering the slightest 
injury to the fruit, however much it may stand in his way. I 
have witnessed instances where the entrance to his nest was 
more than half closed up by a cluster of apples, which he 
could have easily demolished in half a minute ; but, as if 
holding the property of his patron sacred, or considering it 
as a natural bulwark to his own, he slid out and in with the 
greatest gentleness and caution. I am not sufficiently con- 
versant in entomology to particularize the different species of 
insects on which he feeds, but I have good reason for believing 
that they are almost altogether such as commit the greatest 
depredations on the fruits of the orchard ; and, as he visits us 
at a time when his services are of the greatest value, and, like 
a faithful guardian, takes up his station where the enemy is 
most to be expected, he ought to be held in respectful esteem, 
and protected by every considerate husbandman. Nor is the 
gaiety of his song one of his least recommendations. Being 
an exceedingly active, sprightly, and restless bird, he is on 
the ground — on the trees — flying and carolling in his hurried 
manner, in almost one and the same instant. His notes are 
shrill and lively, but uttered with such rapidity, and seeming 
confusion, that the ear is unable to follow them distinctly. 
Between these, he has a single note, which is agreeable and 
interesting. Wherever he is protected, he shews his confi- 
dence and gratitude by his numbers and familiarity. In the 
botanic gardens of my worthy and scientific friends, the Messrs 
Bartrams of Kingsess, which present an epitome of almost 
