THE ROBIN. ; 157 
what proportion of the time the ground is very dry through 
the summer. Caterpillars, grubs of various kinds, and 
insects, therefore constitute the chief food of these birds; 
and of these, caterpillars and grubs being the most abun- 
dant, and most easily caught, furnish, of course, the larger 
proportion. 
In fact, the Thrushes seem designed by nature to rid the 
surface of the soil of noxious insects not often pursued by 
most other birds. The warblers capture the insects that 
prey on the foliage of the trees; the flycatchers seize these 
insects as they fly from the trees; the swallows capture 
those which have escaped all these ; the woodpeckers destroy 
them when in the larva state in the wood; the wrens, nut- 
hatches, titmice, and creepers eat the eggs and young that 
live on and beneath the bark; but the thrushes subsist on 
those that destroy the vegetation on the surface of the earth. 
They destroy nearly all kinds of grubs, caterpillars, and 
worms that live upon the greensward and cultivated soil, 
and large quantities of crickets and grasshoppers before 
they have become perfect insects. The grubs of locusts, 
of harvest-flies, and of beetles, which are turned up by the 
plough or the hoe, and their pups when emerging from the 
soil; apple-worms, when they leave the fruit and crawl about 
in quest of new shelter; and those subterranean caterpillars, 
the cutworms, that come out of the earth to take their food, — 
all these, and many others, are eagerly devoured by the 
Robin and other Thrushes. The cutworms emerge from 
the soil during the night to seek for food; and the Robin, 
which is one of the earliest birds to go abroad in the morn- 
ing, is very diligent at the dawn of day in hunting for these 
vermin before they have gone back into their retreat. The 
number of these destructive grubs is immense. ‘ Whole 
cornfields,” says Dr. Harris, “ are sometimes laid waste by 
them. Cabbage-plants, till they are grown to a considerable 
size, are very apt to be cut off and destroyed by them. Po- 
tato-vines, beans, beets, and various other culinary plants, 
