Spizel la socialis teazing Icterus p;albula . 
Copy, 
Waltham, Mass. 
May 14, 1901. 
Dear Mr. Brewster, 
x x x x . I am going to tell about two in- 
stances where it seemed as if one kind of bird was teazing an- 
other. The 'first I saw two or three years ago when I was 
sitting out near some apple trees in which a Baltimore Oriole 
was very ousy, so busy that he scarcely ever stopped long 
enough to sing. By and by, however, I noticed that every 
once in a while he would make a vicious lunge at something & 
then go back to work. I found that this something was a 
chipping sparrow that would tag the oriole about wherever he 
went, keeping about a foot & a half away. As soon as the 
oriole would fly to a fresh place the sparrow would follow & 
sit near him until he went to suiother place when he would pur- 
sue him again, in spite of the frequent attacks of the oriole 
which would drive him off only for a few seconds, and they 
kept it up as long as I sat there. The conduct of the chippy 
seemed to teaze the oriole very much & I could see no reason 
for the sparrow persisting in it except to teaze him. x x x 
Elizabeth J. Worcester. 
