Show Doors in the West J a Natural History in the Rocky Mountain Plateau H- eMr Study in University of iM iJ i FOOD OF THE ROBIN AND WAYS OE THE ORIOLE H ONE OF OUR INSECT BEAUTIES Horns of the poplar clad in on yon black-capped oriole extended boughs still ase him h their bending skirts he his nest lis sweet secure froni ery o'er her spotted store and eps them warm i the noontide hum of busy mellow the the day by day the lonely ewy morn to reeks a crew all her and her of love the assiduous leaves and boughs food chants her guardian as road he breezes rock them to golden and d are other names of this creature one of the that displays such in-r in building its This fine bird of hard has black back the lower parts of and is by no means 1 fact that will surprise of our do beautiful birds persist in among Civilizing the e should let the birds have they would voluntarily if not into do-ted They have no ted hostility toward ave not been the W and bitter war of they have ever sued Instead of feeling an toe the birds are towards us by the strongest of If nature anywhere shows us her friendship and her against all to make that friendship she shows it through the The way they forgive and their endless efforts at and their sense of ought to shame They sing over every acre that we as if we had saved it for them and in return they probe most diligently for they girdle the apple trees for and gallop over the whole wide sky for gnats and flies squaring their it may for orchards and There is a subtle In a Nephi The writer just in his book Watcher in the maintains that except for the one acre of appie trees is richer in the variety of its birds than ten acres of This unexpected statement from a noted observer was fully corroborated by my own experience in a town orchard last to my I had the opportunity of watching the field glasses some of the doings of just eighteen different kinds of native- birds in one half All of these must have been nesting in or about this The list comprises many of our most as well as most feathered Here it is The house the little gray-brown bird with strawberry-washed neck and rump the the little bird with turquoise blue head and upper brown vest and white wing bars a perfect lyric in and with a pretty Seen in the Orchards and Groves The Bullock Oriole Now yet real attraction for them in human They like its its' its its The shyest and most modest of birds pines for The hermit and free as the heart of the swamp from worldliness even he loves a I do not know a single bird who does not prefer a wood road through with a wagon Thoreau tells his wonder and disappointment at the dearth of birds in the Maine The few hawks and rarer wood species found in these wild places are shy and More and in spite of all they know of the birds choose our proximity in preference to the Dallas Lore the yellow warbler the lark the fine a trifle larger the English bearing a black spot on the white tail feathers tipped with a chestnut striped the bank the mourning the meadow Brewer also the yellow-head and the the Bullock oriole possibly the Louisiana tanager and Say's the Arkansas the mountain bluebird the killdeer the one of the humming birds think it was the black chinned I observed one nesting there last and the The Western The robin was the only besides the English that seemed to be doing any it was frequently observed attacking the Yet even the robin feeds mainly on wild fruits which man never only 4 per cent of its vegetable food being of the cultivated Robins eat wild fruit in every month of the and cultivated only in June and July and during part of It takes only the small fruits and even neglects the late for by the time these are ripe its preferred wild food is The robin is a great insect insects comprising about 42 per cent of its food grasshoppers in August comprise 30 per cent of its whole To Protect Says the government view of the fact that the robin takes ten times as much wild as cultivated it seems unwise to destroy the birds to save so Nor is this for by a little care both birds and fruit may be Where much fruit is it is no great loss to give up one tree to the and in some cases the crop can be protected by Where wild fruit is not a few fruit-bearing shrubs and vines judiciously will serve for ornament and provide food for the The Russian mulberry is a vigorous grower and a profuse ripening at the same time as the So far as observation has most birds seem to prefer its fruit to any It is believed that a number of mulberry trees planted around the garden or orchard fully protect the more valuable persons have written about the delicate discrimination of birds for choice asserting that only the finest and costliest varieties are This is contrary to all careful scientific unlike human seems to prefer fruit like the that is sweetly or one that has some astringent or bitter quality like the chokecherry or Another My suggestion is Let county commissioners and city councils forbid the killing and name committees to appraise the value of the fruit taken by then pay the fruit growers for r This would save the robin for the destruction of noxious insects and weed seeds for the whole while the would be compensated for their losses in June and Then the cherry trees might well be screened with wire this would protect the fruit and perhaps save some of the other insect-eating as shown A Careless Nest The nest of the robin was easily found in an apple for the mother the fussiest and least sensible mother among the will select almost any place a safe for her female chooses the site for the and her ability for blundering upon unattractive and locations amounts to 4 Here is a pair building upon a pile of boards' under a cherry another pair plaster their nest to the rider of an old worm while a third abandoning the woods' plant against all upon the top of a step ladder that the brick makers use daily in their drying I the young just from the One ling sat for hours upon an apple limb swinging near the so low that any cat could have caught the breast arresting my attention from a long distance through the i bird To compel the I. youngster to find a higher I I tried to catch and to my f satisfaction he then flew higher V The Western The celebrated and beautiful Baltimore oriole of the east comes no further it than Colorado but its western the Bullock occupies the Rocky mountain and is of the same great value to western fruit growers' as the Baltimore is to eastern My first good view of the western beauty was in a high where he had perched in full the brilliant orange of his under parts making a striking picture against the dark green A narrow four-in-hand tie went from his chin down over his yellow vest for about an inch and as he turned a black crown neck and with white patches on the wings and tail were plainly visible and very as seen through the bird Later a pair were considerate enough to fly down in front of me as I reclined half concealed near a their noisy and chattering courtship resembling a family The male was boisterous in and his showy back and fan tail of edged with were displayed to advantage as he scolded and chattered at his greenish-olive and yellow It was a rare piece of good fortune to have them enact this stormy comedy right before my eyes and only two rods Keep in the The birds were much in the they hang their wonderful swinging from some branch 6 to 40 feet from the occasionally taking a one can begrudge the few early berries and cherries it may When seen in berry patches it is usually hunting especially the smaller green caterpillars that do so much damage and are so hard to No- great complaints are made against this the government who examined seventy found that 75 per cent of its food consists of mostly of a noxious Caterpillars formed 26 per cent and including the very small black olive and a few make up the article will be continued in next describing other birds of the A Common Insect Flying about in the orchard on May were three insect beauties of larger size the monarch and the tiger swallow- The Drawn by a pupil of the State Normal Training School bunch of willows for The nest is woven of horsehair and vegetable lined with down and The melodious which the bird occasionally running into a short convinced me that the Bullock is as proficient in song as he is attractive in though the note most frequently heard from him was a wren-like which is said to be characteristic of the entire oriole Brilliant and The Bullock oriole is taking every precaution to conceal his he keeps in the trees and behind the Brilliant as the western oriole it is said to be less beautiful than the eastern though similar in all On account its great value as an insect no already and a black with cream-bordered the subject the present A picture of this familiar and cosmopolitan form of insect life the mourning cloak butterfly-was shown in a previous and it is probably so well known that no new picture is The earliest butterfly of spring is a large brownish-black with a whitish or cream colored border to the wavy margins of its which expand about 2 It ranges over mountain and valley in the and is most frequently seen in on fine days in and it is- in February when there happen to occur a few warm I notice-it in early spring most at or near the mouths of those like Red E i near Salt Lake j m such c sunny slopes this and lively insect disport i showing a preference J Jf high about bushes and J trees For this the of butterflies that hibernate tt or live through the J head in 4 sheltered place in Lt or b till the warm air enables it to jl about Its glossy vety wings suggest a soft of finest and cream colored border carries Z this Anyone can this it is truly being found all oyer country and in practically parts of the Not daintier for a study in 9 j line and texture could be to the attention of school If they capture a it 3 be kept for awhile in a with a glass door and j sweetened water and freshly WL After a while let it range again the sunlit Habits and Life This is one of fc beauty and distinguished by its pair of wings edged by a colored which is much like the top of our toothed mountain mourning cloak or as already of the most widely distributed 9 all the The one at captured by some of the measures about inches across the outspread autumn days they are still k ing about in the and most invariably settling in places in such a the back to the sun that ways receives the utmost bengal from the sun's After it will creep into a hollow under bark or rocks to remain yf the warmth of spring shall it out Then it will lay eggs on willows poplars or ebB in little clusters of twenty or encircling the These in about two weeks into blackish eat out the leaf As the veins pass from one leaf to each spins a delicate which it When a is and the v Tf place three about ne al The creature comes forth ith a new will stretch a but d splits down the back too large for creatures grow tie se spiny they devour the veins of W sparing only the this time their webs have Ad a sort of swinging carpe the space from stem At each seeks a i a place and spins a the under side-of a entangles its hind legs till the splits along the 1 out entirely a but not a gradually taking W form in which it hangs for a It then as a to range the fields till time it goes into summer and completely awhile by as a j underneath or hang- downward from a It rives in early autumn and be- to search for the honey and or fruits or for- that de- upon leaves by the it or plant is its world is its to teach people the beauty j romance of insect life seems r its place and function in |