THE ROBIN AND THE FRUIT GROWER 



C. \V. XASH, TORONTO, OXT. 



THE ever increasing number of insect 

 pests, both native and imported, 

 v^^hich prey upon our crops, and the loss sus- 

 tained by farmers, gardeners and fruit 

 growers by reason of their ravages, has 

 compelled crop producers to turn their at- 

 tention seriously to the study of the natural 

 laws which govern the production and de- 

 struction of this form of animal life. Care- 

 ful investigation, by men whose training has 

 properly qualified them for the v^ork, shows 

 that nature always maintains an equilibrium 

 between all form of life, both animal and 

 vegetable, so that no one form shall exist in 

 sufficient strength to exterminate another. 

 That birds, which are wholly insectivorous, 

 or which never feed on the fruit or other 

 parts of cultivated plants, are beneficial, may 

 be accepted without question ; but great diffi- 

 culty has sometimes arisen in determining 

 the exact status or value of birds which feed 

 on insects and vegetable products in vary- 

 ing proportions. Much depends on the 

 personal interest of the people whose testi- 

 mony is given and also on local conditions 

 which can not be given general application. 

 Thus it is we find some fruit growers loudly 

 condemning certain birds as very injurious 

 to them in their locality, while other fruit 

 growers in a different district, and farmers 

 and gardeners generally, are perfectly cer- 

 tain that these same birds are of the great- 

 est value to them as destroyers of noxious 

 insects. 



VALUE OF THE ROBIX. 



The best known and most familiar bird in 

 this debatable class is the robin, and opinion 

 is very strongly divided as to its utility. 

 Some fruit growers condemn this ibird with 

 great emphasis ; others weigh its merits and 

 demerits more carefully and assert that it 

 much more than pays for the fruit it eats by 

 the destruction of insects. 



Robins under certain circumstances do 

 take a large number of cherries, strawber- 

 ries, raspberries and some grapes, thereby 



causing individual fruit growers some loss, 

 but the question remains whether or not the 

 robins by their w^ork throughout the season, 

 and the 'benefits they confer on other classes 

 of the agricultural community, do not more 

 than compensate the community for the loss 

 sustained by the few, and further, whether 

 or not the fruit growers cannot protect 

 themselves against loss by robins without 

 destroying them. 



As to the first question the case against 

 the robin has been very strongly, and I 

 think fairly, put by a large fruit grower in 

 the United States, who is an uncompromis- 

 ing enemy of the bird. This gentleman 

 shot a number of robins while they were 

 feeding on his fruit and examined the stom- 

 ach contents of those killed, the result show- 

 ing the percentage of fruit and insects con- 

 tained in each. When the birds were 

 actually engaged in feeding on small fruit 

 84 per cent of fruit and about 16 per 

 cent, of insects were found, a much larger 

 proportion of fruit to insects than has ever 

 come under my personal observation and 

 larger than I have elsewhere seen recorded 



If all the robins in the country consume'! 

 as large a proportion of fruit as these birds 

 and fruit growers suffered a proportionate 

 loss, then there would be just cause for 

 complaint against the robins. We know, 

 however, that even during the height of the 

 strawberry and cherry season that the birds 

 rarely take as large a percentage of fruit as 

 this, and we also know that the large growl- 

 ers rarely suffer any appreciable loss. 

 PLENTY OE EVIDENCE. 



The question as to what is the true status 

 of the i\merican robin with regard to agri- 

 culture and horticulture has been under in- 

 vestigation in the United States and Canada 

 for over 40 years, so that there is no lack of 

 evidence on which to arrive at a conclusion. 

 The result of these investigations shows un- 

 mistakably that, except during the months 

 of June and July, when the strawberries 



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