440 THE THRUSH FAMILY 



with their parents as well. They are very easy to tame, and a 

 judicious appeal to their appetite will make them quite friendly. A 

 young robin in my garden soon made himself one of the family, 

 feeding from our hands, perching on the tea-table, on our knees, and 

 on my head. He helped himself to all eatables, and showed a special 

 weakness for cake. Other young robins occasionally slipped in when 

 his back was turned, but, if caught, they were pounced upon and 

 driven away with fury. 



The young robin in question was good enough one day to make 

 me aware of a fact in his digestive economy which to me at least was 

 new. I found it, however, noted by Naumann. 1 This was that, like 

 other TurdidcB, the robin regurgitates hard indigestible matter in the 

 form of pellets. The one my robin put in my way was composed for 

 the most part of small grit and the wing cases of beetles. The grit 

 was probably swallowed with worms, and served, no doubt, to assist 

 the process of trituration in the gizzard. It is interesting to note 

 that the robin, though its beak is comparatively weak, being much 

 less thick and strong than those of the seed-eating Finches, neverthe- 

 less eats seeds freely and without ill effects in captivity, and does 

 so occasionally in the wild state, as post-mortem examinations prove. 2 

 It is also expert in catching flies, and may be seen not only snapping 

 them up in the air, but also picking them off the surface of 

 water. This it does by pausing in its flight, hovering over its prey, 

 then seizing it with its beak. 3 It has even been known to catch 

 stickleback. 4 It is scarcely necessary to add that the bird is one 

 of the gardener's best friends. 



The young robin referred to above sang occasionally, both before 

 and during its moult. The first date on which I heard this song was 

 July 30th, a fact which lends little support to the view that birds 

 learn to sing by imitation, for at this date the song of an old bird 



1 Vogel Mitteleuropas, i. p. 28. 



2 Robert Newstead, The Food of Some British Birds, p. 21, published by the Board of 

 Agriculture. s Zoologist, 1902, p. 405 (Coward and Oldham). 



* Ussher and Warren, Birds of Ireland, p. 13. 



