1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



461 



For the New England Farmer. 

 THE AMERICAN ROBIN. 



Friend Brown : — Perceiving your great fond- 

 ness for birds, and love for the beautiful in na- 

 ture as well as in things of art, and being aware, 

 also, of your willingness to allow free discussion 

 upon all subjects th:it relate to agriculture and 

 horticulture in the Farmer, I venture to offer a 

 plea in behalf of the robin. 



In the issue of June 4th, a correspondent re- 

 marks, "I do not see as any of the advocates for 

 the preservation of robins advance one idea in 

 their favor, except their singing ; no injurious 

 insect do they prove that they destroy. I will 

 admit that for fructiferous birds nature requires 

 some animal food, but the robin never takes any 

 except the angle-worms, where they can be 

 found." 



This is a strong assertion, but as he says of 

 the "advocates for the preservation of the rob- 

 ins," proof is wanting to confirm the assertion 

 that "the robin never takes any (insects) except 

 angle-worms." As an advocate for the robin, I 

 will furnish facts of a recent date given by Prof. 

 Jenks, employed under the patronage of the 

 "Massachusetts Horticultural Society " 



The plan adopted for the investigation of this 

 su])ject required that robins should be oljtained 

 at day break, mid-day and sunset, both from the 

 village and the country, that their crops should 

 be examined and the contents thereof preserved 

 in alcohol. Beginning with the first week in 

 March, this investigation was continued almost 

 daily until December. Not a particle of vegeta- 

 ble matter was found down to the first of May, 

 but insects in great abundance, both as to quan- 

 tity and variety of species, for the robin is a vo- 

 racious eater, as confirmed by an experiment 

 made in Cambridge, last season, which was pub- 

 lished in the papers. Nine-tenths of the food dur- 

 ing the time indicated, consisted of the larvce 

 identified as Bibio aUipennis of Say, as con- 

 firmed by Dr. Fitch, of New York, and a Russian 

 entomologist in Washington. From one hun- 

 dred to two hundred of these larvit were fre- 

 quently taken from a single robin, and were usu- 

 ally the only food found in the crops. 



Thus did Prof, Jenks demonstrate that the 

 robin consumed daily during March and April, 

 from one hundred to two hundred Bibio larvte, 

 thus rendering an incalculable service to the til- 

 lers of the soil. The robin seems to be peculiar- 

 ly fond of these worms. 



The Bibio larvae were not seen after the first 

 of May, from which time to June 21st a variety 

 of insects and worms were found, including spi- 

 ders, caterpillars and beetles of the family Ela- 

 ievidft, the propagators of the wire-worm, so de- 

 structive to corn. The earth-worm, or angle- 

 , worm, as it is also called, was founrl to be a fa- 

 voiile kind of food for the young, but sparingly 

 eaten by the parent birds. 



From June 21st, strawberries, cherries and 

 pulpy fruits in general were found, but in a ma- 

 jority of examinations, were intermingled with 

 insects. Those shot remote from the garden and 

 fruit trees were found to contain more insects 

 and less fruits, leading the Professor to conclude 

 that "the robin is not an extensive forager," 



The mixed diet of the robin was found to con- 



tinue until October ; the vegetable portion, dur- 

 ing August and September, consisting chiefly of 

 elderberries and pokeberries. During October, 

 grasshoppers and orthopterous insects generally 

 furnished the diet of the robin. 



Early in November, the robin migrates to the 

 South, and even earlier, most of them. Some of 

 them, however, remain through the winter, sub- 

 sisting on bay-berries, privet-berries, juniper- 

 berries, mountain-ash-berries, &c. 



After such an exhibition of facts in confirma- 

 tion of the robin's habits, may it not be hoped 

 that its accusers will no longer persist in assert- 

 ing that the robin eschews all insects and worms, 

 except angle-worms, which your correspondent 

 says he "gulps down as if he loathed it, like a 

 child taking Epsom salts," and "only to gratify 

 his vicious destructivene-s." The cowardly rob- 

 in, it is also said, "locates near dwellings," inter- 

 fering, it would seem, from the remarks of your 

 correspondent, not only with the fruit business, 

 but the traffic in angle-worms, whose "standard 

 price" in certain localities is "one dollar a gill." 

 These would be strong reasons for repealing the 

 law, for protecting birds, including the robin, 

 were it not that there are many more, and much 

 stronger reasons for its preservation, in view of 

 the incalculable good which it does. 



He who seeks for good, unmixed with evil, in 

 the things appertaining to this life, I fear will 

 look in vain. Before pronouncing sentence of 

 utter condemnation upon a neighbor, or a robin, 

 because a sinner, on the one hand, and a fruit- 

 eater or poacher on the other, let the question be 

 mentally put, "Who ami, that thus condemneth 

 because of evilP" Let him that is without sin 

 cast the first stone. Weigh the good and the 

 evil, and see if the former does not preponderate 

 in general, and with regard to the robin in par- 

 ticular. Charity. 



LETTER FROM MR. BROWN. 



Montreal lies on the west bank of the St. 

 Lawrence, which is nearly two miles wide oppo- 

 site the city. It is narrow, but stretches along 

 the bank of the river for a long distance, and 

 contains a population of some 80,000 souls. This 

 population is greatly mixed, and each class is 

 ever striving to make prominent and perpetuate 

 its own national characteristics in customs, man- 

 ners and language. The struggle, however, is 

 between the English and the French — there lies 

 the tug of war. Their differences often find ex- 

 pression, and will eventually lead to a distinct 

 local government, in the two provinces of Lower 

 and Upper Canada, probably, before they are 

 known as the State of Upper Canada, and the 

 State of Loioer Canada. The feeling strongly 

 prevails with many intelligent persons, that the 

 Canadas will yet become a part of the cluster of 

 United States. 



The buildings in the city are mostly construct- 

 ed of stone, and the dingy walls, full of crevices 

 where the plaster has been washed or knocked 

 out, together with the open cellars and blar''* 



