26 



the robin, because with us it has proved to be the most useful 

 bird in the garden. The food of the robin has been studied, 

 within the past fifty years, by many investigators. Their con- 

 clusions, however, have not always agreed. 



Prof. J. W. P. Jenks, Mr. E. A. Samuels, Prof. S. A. Forbes, 

 Mr. F. H. King, Prof. F. E. L. Beal and some others, while 

 varying in their estimates of the robin's value, all regard it as 

 a useful bird; but the investigations of Mr. E. V. Wilcox and 

 Prof. F. S. Webster, published in Bulletin No. 43 of the Ohio 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, present results rather unfa- 

 vorable to the robin. It is not my intention here to take issue 

 with these gentlemen as to the facts stated in their writings on 

 this subject. I wish merely to call attention to some errors into 

 which investigators who are not familiar with birds' habits are 

 likely to fall, and also to show wherein the observations of Mr. 

 Wilcox do not agree with my own. 



He has stated to me in conversation that most of the robins 

 whose stomachs were examined were shot while feeding on the 

 grounds of the experiment station, and mainly during the busy 

 hours of the day. Few birds were shot very early in the morn- 

 ing or towards dusk. Now, the robin is very active at such 

 times, and it is then that it has the best opportunity to secure 

 the cutworms, the percentage of which in the stomachs of those 

 examined by Mr. Wilcox is probably too small. All vestiges 

 of cutworms eaten by the robin at 3 to 4 A.M. will probably 

 have disappeared from the stomach at 6, by reason of the bird's 

 rapid digestion. Most of the robins were shot on the station 

 grounds at a time when they were feeding largely on the small 

 fruits grown there in profusion. Naturally, a larger proportion 

 of cultivated fruit was found in the stomachs than would have 

 been the case had a larger number of the birds examined been 

 shot in other localities and at other times. This seems hardly 

 fair to the species. No stomachs of nestling robins were exam- 

 ined. This seems a capital omission. In our investigations 

 nestlings have appeared to require a very large proportion of 

 insect food, and as they increase in size they require more food 

 than the old birds. A young robin has been known to eat 

 forty-one per cent more than its own weight each day. 



Mr. W T ilcox failed to find any grubs in the stomachs of robins 



