136 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



portionately very small ; and a new bed, planted on the 

 ground originally swarming with white grubs, did very 

 well. The robins had so nearly exterminated the grubs 

 that but few plants have been lost. 



The robins occasionally took a raspberry or currant. 

 They also took insects from the currant bushes (presumably 

 currant worms). Their heaviest toll of fruit was taken 

 from the cherry trees. In some localities their attacks on 

 the cherries have been prevented by growing the Russian 

 mulberry, — a fruit they often prefer to the cherry; but 

 this is not always a certain remedy, and it is safer to plant 

 cherry trees enough to supply both the birds and the famil}^ 

 Much space has been given to 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 conclusions, 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 varving 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. 8. Webster, published in Bul- 

 letin No. 43 of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 present results rather unfavorable 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 investi- 

 gators 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 feed- 

 ing on the grounds of the experiment station, and mainly 

 during the busy hours of the day. Few birds were shot 

 very early in the morning 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 cut worms, the per- 

 centage of Avhich in the stomachs of those examined by Mr. 

 Wilcox is probably too small. All vestiges of cut worms 



