62 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICQLTURE. 



upwards, and looking about liim with seeming unconcern. 

 Soon he makes two or three hops, and then stands a few more 

 seconds apparently idle. Presently he may be seen pecking 

 vigorously upon the ground, when, if you was near enough to 

 see it distinctly, you would find that he is pulling out a cut- 

 worm from his retreat, or devouring a nest of insects which 

 are gathered in a cluster. Tlie robin consumes earthworms 

 also when he cannot obtain grubs, which he always prefers. 



Blackbirds, though they also gather their food from the 

 ground, seem to be more industrious. These birds walk ; they 

 do not hop like the robin, and they seldom hold up their 

 heads, but march along with their bills turned downward, as if 

 entirely devoted to the object of their search. They never 

 seem to be idle, except when a flock of them are making a 

 garrulous noise upon the trees. If a blackbird looks upward, 

 it is only by a sudden movement, and he never stops. After 

 watching him and the robin five minutes in the same field any 

 one would lay a wager that the blackbird would collect twice 

 as much food as the robin in that time. But this would be a 

 mistake ; and the difference in their apparent industry proceeds 

 from the different character of their food. The robin is 

 entirely insectivorous, and rejects all seeds and farinaceous food, 

 while the omniverous blackbird hunts the soil for every thing 

 that is nutritious, and pecks up millions of small seeds which 

 require a close examination of the ground. 



The robin is probably endowed with a greater reach of sight 

 than the blackbird ; and, while hopping about with his head 

 erect, his eyes comprehend within their visual grasp, a very 

 wide circumference. He not only watches for a sight of his 

 prey but also for those marks upon vegetation that denote the 

 place of its concealment. When we look among our young 

 cabbages, that, if we see a plant cut down, we may draw out 

 from its hole the cutworm that has done the mischief; if we 

 do not find it, we may be sure that the robin, who understands 

 the indications as well as any gardener, has been there before 

 us. Tiie robin must possess an extraordinary portion of this 

 sagacious instinct, for the thousands of cutworms destroyed by 

 him could not possibly be discovered, except by these indica- 

 tions. The far-sightedness of the robin is equally remarkable 

 in the blackbird, who, though he takes a large portion of his 



