During the early summer I never wearied of watching the
musical orioles flashing with their bright hues in and out of the
foliage about the house; but when the early grapes were ripe, they
took pay for their music with the sang-froid of a favorite prima
donna. On one occasion I saw three or four alight on a Diana vine,
and in five minutes they had spoiled a dozen clusters. If they
would only take a bunch and eat it up clean, one would readily
share with them, for there would be enough for all; but the dainty
little epicures puncture an indefinite number of berries, merely
taking a sip from each. Then the wasps and bees come along and
finish the clusters. The cardinal, cat-bird, and our unrivalled
songster the wood-thrush, all help themselves in the same wasteful
fashion. One can't shoot wood-thrushes. We should almost as soon
think of killing off our Nilssons, Nevadas, and Carys. The only
thing to do is to protect the clusters; and this can be
accomplished in several ways. The most expeditious and
satisfactory method is to cover the vines of early grapes with
cheap mosquito netting. Another method is to make little bags of
this netting and inclose each cluster. Last fall, two of my
children tied up many hundreds of clusters in little paper bags,
which can be procured at wholesale for a trifling sum.
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