THE EDUCATIONAL HUMANE SOCIETY 



4i; 



In all my close acquaintance with 

 crows, covering" a dozen years, I have 

 never convicted him of stealing" — this 

 with a big" vegetable garden, and truck- 

 patch offering him every opportunity. 

 In the early mornings I see him walk- 

 ing, in a dignified manner, in the gar- 

 den, but no complaints have ever been 

 made by our gardener of corn or pea 

 being taken. The sparrows eat the 

 pea blossoms continually. 



In view of the enormous increase of 

 insect pests we cannot afford to spare 

 any insectivorous bird, and should feed 

 and encourage them, rather than de- 

 pend on sprays and insecticides to do) 

 what God meant the birds for. 



A Remarkably Tame Robin. 



Pasadena, Texas. 

 To the Editor : 



The article "Robins in Winter" in 

 the February issue of The Guide to 

 Nature calls to mind a very unique 

 experience I've had with a lovely 

 robin this winter. The presence of the 

 robin here with us in South Texas 

 presages a "cold snap" as a general 

 thing, and it seldom fails that within 

 twenty-four or thirty-six hours the 

 "cold wave" arrives after we note the 

 arrival of the robins. A few remain 

 with us the entire winter, — the larger 

 number going farther south in their 

 migratory instincts, to Cuba, Central 

 America, and to the northern regions 

 of South America. We are only too 

 pleased to have them remain with us, 

 since they are good insect destroyers ; 

 and as the cultivation of the large truck 

 farms and the immense strawberry 

 fields of South Texas is at its height, 

 the birds have but little trouble in se- 

 curing food in abundance, in the way 

 of grubs, larvae of all sorts of insects, 

 worms, etc. 



I have planted out quite a number 

 and a variety of small trees this winter 

 in and around my yard and lots, work- 

 ing at it in a leisurely way for several 

 weeks. On one occasion I noticed 

 within a few feet of me, sitting on a 

 post, a lovely robin, his chirruping be- 

 ing as persistent as it was distinct; and 

 his seeming lack of fear, and his con- 

 fidence in me were most pronounced. I 



tossed him an earth-worm, — he imme- 

 diately alighted from his post, ate it, and 

 remained there for me to throw him 

 another, which I did, and continued to 

 do. When I'd finished at one place 

 and go to another, he'd follow, and 

 chirrup for the worms. Every morn- 

 ing as soon as I started to dig, the 

 robin would appear, take a perch in 

 close proximity, chirrup for worms, and 

 this was repeated, day after day, for 

 several weeks. Evidently this particu- 

 lar bird was raised, or had a nest in 

 some yard in close proximity to a 

 dwelling and its inmates, up North was 

 accustomed to people, — perhaps even 

 fed by them, as his entire lack of fear 

 showed. I called it to the notice of 

 the wife of one of my tenants who also 

 lives in another house in my grove ; 

 and she said that every morning when 

 she started to wash her dishes just after 

 breakfast, on the back gallery, that 

 same robin would put in his appearance 

 to be fed with crumbs, and would come 

 so near that she could almost touch 

 him. 



To see a wild bird so tame, and mani- 

 fest such little fear has been most gra- 

 tifying. He really became a constant 

 companion ; and as this especial robin 

 was such a handsome, manly little fel- 

 low, I was only too glad to be his worm 

 purveyor. 



The great increase in insect life 

 since I can remember has been most 

 wonderful ; and the great decrease, and 

 dearth of bird life most lamentable. 

 That one is the correlation of the other 

 is, alas ! onlv too true ! 



V. S. Mac Nider, M. D. 



Observations of Two Rare Birds. 



Island Pond, Vermont. 

 To the Editor : 



Several times in the past two years 

 my husband has, when in the deep 

 woods on tramping" or fishing trips, 

 seen a bird that is locally known as the 

 "cock o' the woods." The last time 

 was on the 15th inst.. when out on 

 snowshoes at the base of Mt. Bluff. He 

 describes the bird as a "giant wood- 

 pecker," nearly or quite as large as a 

 partridge, or ruffed grouse, with bright 

 red on head and neck down to the 



