NO. 20.] THE BIRDS OF CONNECTICUT. 357 



Robin. Appearing early in the spring and remaining late in the 

 autumn in regions where it does not reside throughout the year, 

 commonly frequenting lawns and meadows, building conspicuous 

 nests near the haunts of man, feeding freely upon the fruits of 

 the garden and orchard, greeting the rising and the setting sun 

 with bursts of no mean melody — these and other considerations 

 have combined to render the Robin familiar to every lover of the 

 outdoor world." (Weed and Dearborn, " Birds in their Relation 

 to Man.") But, while the evidence is strongly against the English 

 Sparrow and hardly in favor of the Crow, there can be no doubt 

 that, in spite of its taste for fruit, the Robin is a very useful bird 

 and should be thoroughly protected. Professor Forbes found 

 that 99 per cent of the food of n Robins shot in February in 

 Illinois consisted of insects, of which cutworms and other cater- 

 pillars constituted 14 per cent, and the larvae of the white-winged 

 Bibio 76 per cent. " Thirty-seven per cent of the food of nine 

 March robins consisted of Bibio larvae ; cutworms and other cater- 

 pillars formed 30 per cent." " Taking the year as a whole, in- 

 sects form almost two-thirds of the food of the Robin." " Six 

 robins shot in Nebraska by Professor Aughey had eaten two 

 hundred and sixty-five Rocky Mountain locusts and eighty-four 

 other insects. In Wisconsin Professor King examined the 

 stomachs of thirty-seven specimens taken during the interval 

 between March and October. ' Five birds had eaten eleven cut- 

 worms ; three, five wire-worms ; two, two hairy caterpillars ; one, a 

 hog-caterpillar of the vine ; five, eight scarabaeid beetles ; two, cur- 

 culios ; one, a click beetle ; one, an ichneumon fly ; two, two spiders ; 

 one, a millipede; two, two angle- worms; six, nine grasshoppers; 

 two, eight grasshoppers' eggs; one, a moth; three (young birds), 

 pellets of grass; one, choke-cherries; two, black cherries; one 

 raspberries ; one, grapes ; one, sheep berries ; and one, berries of 

 Indian turnip.' " 



" Concerning the fruit-eating proclivities of the Robin, Mr. W. 

 J. Green, of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, writes: 

 ' The capacity of the Robin for berries is enormous, and when 

 hundreds come at once the growers suffer serious losses. On 

 the station ground nearly all of the early raspberries and black- 

 berries are taken by the Robins, and only in the height of the 

 season are there enough berries left to give the pickers a chance 



