The American Robin 97 



where the male bird could visit his mate. There were eggs in 

 the nest and the mother was unable to attend to her maternal 

 duties. There was a new and pressing responsibility on the 

 father of this prospective family. He was equal to the emer- 

 gency. Evidently he had done some thinking. He saw that 

 the mother was getting on as well as could be expected. 

 What did he do? That bright breasted robin took her place 

 on the nest and hatched out the brood. They could see him 

 from day to day, feeding the young robins and from time to 

 time he would come to the cage and converse with the mother 

 bird evidently asking and receiving advice as to the manner 

 of bringing up the little ones. Many times did they see him 

 come and bring to the wounded bird a big fat worm and pass 

 it to her through the bars of the cage. It was a pretty picture 

 of conjugal affection. When the wing was thoroughly healed 

 Mrs. Lee released Madam Robin and she joined her faithful 

 spouse and the little ones. 



I do not like the picture of the robin in the Year Book of 

 the United States Department of Agriculture, and the many 

 that have been copied after it, which depicts him as tugging 

 away at an angle worm. They tend to create the impression 

 that the sole occupation of these birds is to destroy angle 

 worms. For his meat diet, the robin not only eats angle 

 worms but bugs, flies, spiders, grasshoppers, crickets, cater- 

 pillars, the larvae of the March fly, cut worms and army 

 worms. At once it will be noticed that most if not all of these 

 are destructive pests. They are accused of taking fruit but it 

 has been demonstrated that less than five per cent, of their 

 food consists of cultivated fruit. With this good record in his 

 favor, who is it that would banish him from the face of the 

 earth? Without his sweet notes, our mornings would be "like 

 a landscape without the rose, or a summer evening sky with- 

 out its tints." 



