78 



THE OOLOQIST 



ture, however, show that there is very 

 little ground for this fear. On the 

 other hand, they destroy such a vast 

 number of insects each year, that it is 

 probable that without them many 

 crops would suffer serious damage. 



Of all the Thrushes, the Robin is 

 probably the best known. It has been 

 frequently accused of destroying fruits 

 and berries, but it has now been ascer- 

 tained that this only occurs in regions 

 that are so thickly settled that there 

 is no wild fruit upon which the Robin 

 may subsist. In some years the bird 

 is a great pest in the olive orchards 

 of California, but it is probable that 

 they are driven to the orchards be- 

 cause of the scarcity of native berries 

 at these times. Where wild fruit is 

 available, the birds seem to prefer 

 this to the cultivated varieties. 



Like the Robin, the Bluebird is very 

 domestic, but unlike the Robin, it does 

 not prey upon any cultivated product 

 or work any injury whatever to the 

 fruit grower. During the fruit sea- 

 son, in fact, five-sixths of its food con- 

 sists of insects. It seems, therefore, 

 that the common practice of encourag- 

 ing the Bluebird to nest near houses 

 by placing convenient boxes in which 

 it may build its home is thoroughly 

 justified. 



A detailed description of the habits 

 of the Robins and Bluebirds is con- 

 tained in Bulletin No 171 of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. 

 Bulletin No. 280, which has just been 

 published, takes up the habits of the 

 six other species of the thrush group, 

 which are not quite so well known. 

 These birds also feed principally on in- 

 sects and fruit, but a great portion of 

 the fruit which they consume is wild 

 berries. Domestic fruits are eaten so 

 sparingly by these species that the 

 damage done is quite negligible. 



The bird known as the Townsend 

 solitaire is noted chiefly for its 



song which is said to be at times the 

 finest of any of the Thrush family. 

 This Thrush, however, confines itself 

 almost entirely to the mountains and 

 gorges of the West. The Wood 

 Thrush, on the other hand, is dis- 

 tributed over the eastern part of the 

 United States, and is a frequenter of 

 open groves and bushy pastures. This 

 Thrush also is noted for its sweet 

 song, especially in the early evening. 

 It does not nest in gardens or orch- 

 ards, however, and is seldom seen 

 about farm buildings, so that many 

 people who are familiar with its song 

 would not know the bird by sight. The 

 Wood Thrush consumes a number of 

 very harmful insects sucli as the Colo- 

 rado potato beetle and white grubs. 

 The fruit which it eats, it usually picks 

 up from the ground instead of taking 

 fresh from the tree. There is there- 

 fore no reason why the Wood Thrush 

 should not be rigidly protected. 



■ The food of the other varieties al- 

 so seems to consist of little that it in- 

 jures anyone to have the birds eat, 

 while on the other hand they destroy 

 multitudes of harmful insects each 

 year. 



U. S.Biological Dept. 



Wood Ducks. 



I was greatly surprised to see a 

 pair of Wood Ducks today while walk- 

 ing around in the woods of Jamacia. 

 This is the first pair of these beauti- 

 ful ducks I have ever seen in their 

 wild state. But I have seen enough 

 that had been raised in captivity and 

 otherwise tame, besides mounted ones 

 to be sure of identification. 



They were found in a sort of flooded 

 woods and I unconsciously saved them 

 from being shot by a hunter. Although 

 hunting is not allowed in this place 

 because of its being within the city 

 limits, I noticed four fellows were out 

 with guns shooting at crows. I saw 



