No. 20.] THE BIRDS OF CONNECTICUT. 359 



about 7 per cent, is made up of various insects, with a few spiders, 

 snails, and angle-worms. All the grasshoppers, caterpillars, and 

 bugs, with a large portion of the beetles, are injurious, and it is 

 safe to say that noxious insects comprise more than one-third of 

 the Robin's food. 



"Vegetable food forms nearly 58 per cent of the stomach 

 contents, over 47 being wild fruits, and only a little more than 

 4 per cent being possibly cultivated varieties. Cultivated fruit 

 amounting to about 25 per cent was found in the stomachs in 

 June and July, but only a trifle in August. Wild fruit, on the 

 contrary, is eaten in every month, and constitutes a staple food 

 during half the year. No less than forty-one species were identi- 

 fied in the stomachs ; of these the most important were four species 

 of dogwood, three of wild cherries, three of wild grapes, four 

 of greenbrier, two of holly, two of elder ; and cranberries, huckle- 

 berries, blueberries, barberries, service-berries, hackberries, and 

 persimmons, with four species of sumac, and various other seeds 

 not strictly fruit. The depredations of the Robin seem to be 

 confined to the smaller and earlier fruits; and few, if any, com- 

 plaints have been made against it on the score of eating apples, 

 peaches, pears, grapes, or even late cherries. By the time these 

 are ripe the forests and hedges are teeming with wild fruits, 

 which the bird evidently finds more to its taste. The cherry, un- 

 fortunately, ripens so early that it is almost the only fruit acces- 

 sible at a time when the bird's appetite has been sharpened by a 

 long continued diet of insects, earthworms, and dried berries; 

 and it is no wonder that at first the rich, juicy morsels are greedily 

 eaten. In view of the fact that the Robin takes ten times as much 

 wild as cultivated fruit, it seems unwise to destroy the birds to 

 save so little. Nor is this necessary, for by a little care both may 

 be preserved. Where much fruit is grown, it is no great loss to 

 give up one tree to the birds ; and in some cases the crop can be 

 protected by scarecrows. Where wild fruit is not abundant, a 

 few fruit-bearing shrubs and vines judiciously planted will serve 

 for ornament and provide food for the birds. The Russian mul- 

 berry is a vigorous grower and a profuse bearer, ripening at the 

 same time as the cherry, and, so far as observation has gone, 

 most birds seem to prefer its fruit to any other. It is believed 

 that a number of these trees planted around the garden or 



