this type of study was stimulated by the work of Richard N. Smith, who 

 found the robin to be a primary source of damage to fruit crops by birds 

 in the state of Massachusetts. Smith, working in cherry, blueberry, and 

 grape plantations at the University, noted that there was practically no 

 population turnover at times when the fruit crop was ripe. Experiments 

 with various scare devices were run with little or no success. For this 

 reason Smith recommended that a great deal more fundamental information 

 on the daily lives and activities of species responsible for fruit dam- 

 age was needed before any effective, economically feasible, control meas- 

 ures could be proposed. 



In the last two summers the robin project has been aimed simply at 

 studying the ecology of this bird, rather than studying its habits with 

 regard to fruit depredation specifically. The basis for this work has 

 been a population of wing-tagged individuals. Three hundred and twenty 

 birds were tagged in two summers. The tags, devised by A. E. Hester, 

 were circular with a diameter of 1 1/2 inches and made of plasticized 

 cloth attached to each wing by means of an aluminum poultry clip. Com- 

 binations of letters painted on these tags enabled me to identify an in- 

 dividual bird at a range of 100 yards with a 20 power telescope. 



Observations of tagged birds at the University cherry orchard and 

 two blueberry plantations completely corroborate those of Smith with re- 

 spect to age group and population turnover. After the second week in 

 June immature birds, rather than adults, caused most of the damage. In 

 196M-, 31% of the immatures captured at the cherry orchard were seen 

 feeding there again; and M-9% of the immatures captured at one blueberry 

 plantation were seen feeding there again. It is safe to assume that 

 the actual number returning to these sites was far higher than these fig- 

 ures indicate. As an indication of the strength of the affinity these 

 birds have for a particular fruit plantation, it is interesting to note 

 that being captured in nets, banded and wing-tagged in no way acted as 

 a deterrent to their returning. 



The first wave of nestling robins is ready to leave the nest during 

 the last ten days of May. The fledglings remain in the immediate vicin- 

 ity of the nest for 2-3 weeks depending on the cover available. In 

 most cases these fledged immatures then move quickly to the nearest 

 fruit crop, wild or cultivated, and become part of a flock of robins 

 centered on this source of abundant food. The flock is composed pri- 

 marily of immatures, but also contains adults that have been released 

 from nesting duties. The adults tend to wander more widely, however, 

 and are less predictable in their movements than are the young birds. 

 Fledglings generally did not travel further than a half mile to join a 

 local feeding flock. 



Very little is known about how the actual dispersal of fledglings 

 or immatures from nests takes place. Do they move on their own initia- 

 tive or are they led to feeding areas by parents? Immatures are often 

 seen at feeding areas begging food from adults. Whether these adult 

 birds are the parents of the begging fledglings is open to question. 

 Observations of tagged immatures this spring indicated that some birds 

 find their way to feeding areas by themselves and some by following 

 parents. One immature that had moved away from its parents' territory 



