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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. The 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 gar- 

 rulous noise upon the trees. If a blackbird looks upward, it is 

 only by a sudden movement, and he never stops. After watch- 

 ing 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 difierence in their apparent industry proceeds 

 from the different character of their food. The Robin is entire- 

 ly insectivorous, and rejects all seeds and farinaceous food, 

 while the omnivorous 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. The 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 fiir sightedness of the Robin is equally remarka- 



