76 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Avritc to Prof. Russell, Chairman of the Committee on the Robin, and 

 request him to call a meetino: of his Committee as soon as possible," 

 Very truly yours, 

 (Signed) F. P, Denny, Bee. Secretary. 



On the IGth of April last, the Recording Secretary sent me a copy of 

 the vote passed October 7, ISGo, as noticed in the beginning of this re- 

 port. 



Ascertaining what were the duties assigned your Committee, its Chair- 

 man called its several members to meet him on Saturday, May 5th, by 

 letter addressed to each, from one of whom he received reply that he 

 '' resigned his position as Professor of Zoology some five years ago, and 

 had not been at a single meeting of the Society since," &c. 



In case of the robin, I am sure I could do no more than reproduce 

 my report published in the journal of the proceedings of the Society, 

 March, 1859. My casual investigations each year since have only con- 

 firmed that exhaustive investigation for robins in my locality. 



I sincerely wish there might be some effective legislation to protect 



birds, and i:)articularly by protecting their eggs, which are now destroyed 



by wanton boys, by the wholesale, &c. 



Yours trulj'', 

 (Signed) J. W. P. Jenks. 



The 5th of May being the time of an adjourned meeting of the Socie- 

 ty for some important business, (By-Laws and Amendments previously 

 proposed,) scarcely more than casual conversation could be had by the 

 Committee. Such information as the Chairman could elicit then and sub- 

 sequently is here a^^pended. 



The protection of the robin by legislative action seems to have origi- 

 nated in an idea of its importance as an insect destroyer. A bird of such 

 size, and seen at almost all seasons of the year, afforded a tempting mark 

 to gunners who are not professional sportsmen, and with those whose 

 tastes are not so particular as to the quality of the game they kill, this 

 bird might be regarded as an article of food. 



The hardy character of the robin, by Avhich it endures our mild 

 winters, or returns very early in the spring from the Middle Slates, 

 necessitates it in being omnivorous, and negligent of any partiality to 

 particular food, taking whatever occurs to them at the time. The robin 

 bears a misnomer in its name, and having a red breast, it was called by 

 the first settlers of this country by the same familiar title that quite a dis- 

 tinct bird is known by in England. To distinguish the two, ours was from 

 the first called the American Robin, Avhile that retained the name of Robin 

 Red Breast. Through this unfortunate want of discrimination we have 

 attached somewhat the same sentiment to ours that belongs in the old 

 country and abroad to the Red Breast of Europe. The confiding and 



