332 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



than they go on one long spree. They make straight for 

 the "umbrella china'^ trees and begin eating the berries. 

 These berries make them as drunk as any old toper ever 

 gets. In fact, they get so drunk that they can neither hop 

 nor fly. They fall to the ground and lie on their side, 

 occasionally feebly fluttering, apparently as happy as any 

 drunkard in his cups. No sooner does the "jag" wear off 

 a bit so that they are able to fly than they go back to the 

 trees and get drunk all over again. Often the natives 

 catch these drunken robins, kill, and eat them, but the 

 other robins do not seem to learn wisdom from this. In 

 fact, they never really sober up until all the "umbrella 

 china" berries are gone. Then they are good citizens until 

 another year comes around. 



Robins prefer to spend the winter in the cane brakes 

 along the rivers and swamps from Tennessee southward. 

 On cold days they remain close to or in the cane brakes, but 

 ordinarily they scatter over the woods and fields by day 

 and return to the brakes in the evening to roost. 



Being a great lover of fruit, the robin, in the minds of a 

 great many farmers, is a nuisance, and they do themselves 

 great injury by killing him in cherry time. But for every 

 cherry a robin eats lie eats hundreds of insects that would 

 have done much more injury than the value of a cherry. 



