October 
eagerly devoured by the robin and other 
thrushes.’’ 
On account of a prejudice against the robin, 
due to his occasional depredations in the or- 
chard, I venture to quote a passage from an acute 
observer of the habits of birds, Wilson Flagg, 
who says, in speaking of the robin: ‘‘ The 
more I have studied his habits the more I am 
convinced of his usefulness. Indeed, I am 
now fully persuaded that he is valuable beyond 
all other species of birds, and that his services 
are absolutely indispensable to the farmer of 
New England. Some persons believe that the 
robin is exclusively a frugivorous bird, and that 
for fruit he will reject all other food that is 
within his reach. Others believe that his diet 
consists about equally of fruits and angle- 
worms, but that he is not a general consumer 
of insects. The truth is, the robin is almost 
exclusively insectivorous, and uses fruit, as we 
do, only as a dessert, and not for his subsist- 
ence, except in winter, when his insect - food 
cannot be obtained.’’ 
In view of such testimony, which was based 
upon careful observation, and protracted and 
painstaking experiments, and much more of the 
same sort that might be cited, the occasional 
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