94 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



fruit ratios are uniformly less than those obtained in Illinois by 

 Professor Forbes. The results throughout are quite similar to 

 those of the last-named investigator. The economic percent- 

 ages are summarized as follows : Beneficial species (plants and 

 animals), 52.4 per cent.; injurious species, 18.6 per cent.; 

 neutral species, 28.9 per cent. It will be seen that these are 

 much more unfavorable to the robin than Professor Forbes's 

 results. The difference is largely due to the fact that the 

 latter includes the months of February, March, and Septem- 

 ber in addition to the months covered by Mr. Wilcox ; and 

 also to the fact that in Illinois the Bibio larvae were considered 

 injurious, while in Ohio they were ranked as neutral. While 

 these insects may now confine themselves to decaying organic 

 matter, it seems, from the feeding habits of their allies, very 

 probable that were the check the robin places upon their in- 

 crease removed they would soon be compelled to resort to 

 living vegetation for at least part of their diet, and become 

 injurious. Consequently I think the robin entitled to credit 

 for their destruction. The interesting point is brought out 

 that " during the fruit season the robins shot in the station 

 gardens were in the proportion of nine young to one old bird, 

 and that the old birds took much more insect food than the 

 young. While the young birds were feeding upon raspberries 

 and other garden fruits, the old birds might be found more 

 abundantly on newly mown meadows or in woodlands." 

 Similar conditions have often been noticed in other localities. 

 To show how omnivorous a bird the robin is, Mr. Wilcox 

 states that he found in the stomachs examined ' caterpillars 

 of all sorts, from the smooth geometrids, or spanworrns, and 

 cutworms to the more hairy kinds, such as the walnut cater- 

 pillar (Datana angum) and even the common brown caterpillar 

 (Pyrrharctia Isabella). Coleoptera of several families were 

 noted, Staphylinidae, Dermestidae, Carabidae, Scarabaeidae, 

 Lampyridae, Elateridae, Otiorhynchidae, Curculionidae, Niti- 

 tulidae, Chrysomelidae, and Buprestidae. There were found 



