THE PESTS OF THE FARM. 95 



raccoons, bears and cats are both beneficial and injurious, prob- 

 ably leaning more to the latter quality ; and the ruminantia, 

 including the moose and deer, are now so far from being 

 numerous, and their habits leading them to forests, that any 

 damage inflicted by them must be very inconsiderable. 



BIRDS. 



We now pass to the very large and interesting class, the 

 birds. If we should say that none of these are really pests, 

 that all should be protected and encouraged on the farm, and 

 thus dismiss them, we would perhaps, in this general average, 

 do justice to both birds and man ; but there are a few species 

 whose lives have placed them prominently before us, and about 

 whom there is already much controversy, which we cannot pass 

 by without devoting to them a small portion of our attention. 



Probably the most important of these is the robin, and cer- 

 tainly none has been the subject of more discussion. At the 

 outset I am willing to acknowledge that to small fruit-growers, 

 generally, the robin is a pest and a nuisance ; that it spares 

 neither grapes, cherries, berries, nor ripe pears, and that with 

 these persons it is all that their anger and disappointment have 

 painted it ; but the interests of fruit-growers are small, compara- 

 tively, with those of farmers generally, and the whole life and 

 labor of the robin should be considered before it is condemned. 

 In an article on the economy of food of some of our birds, which 

 appeared in the Report of the United States Department of 

 Agriculture for 1867, 1 devoted considerable space to the robin, 

 and from the facts which I brought forward I will glean the 

 most important. From memoranda of the contents of the 

 stomachs of these birds, taken in different localities and in 

 different times, I found that through the months of January 

 and February the robin is beneficial, (taking units to represent 

 the relative qualities) ; 21 units, by destroying noxious insects ; 

 injurious 4^ units, by devouring beneficial insects ; and neutral 

 33| units, its food consisting, in this proportion, of seeds and 

 berries. In March it is beneficial 12|, injurious 1|, and neutral 

 17 units, feeding, as before, on injurious and beneficial insects 

 and larvae, but principally on seeds of uncultivated trees and 

 shrubs. Through April, May and June I find that for the 

 reasons above mentioned it is beneficial 52 units, injurious 8 



