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Bobolinks, Grackles and other Blackbirds, as well as multitudes 

 of Sparrows. Though a continual warfare was waged against 

 the Grackles, by the owners of the fields, I saw enough to 

 convince me that they were warring against their own friends 

 and servants. The Robins were very numerous and familiar 

 in my neighborhood (the west end of Somerville and North 

 Cambridge). One pair had a nest very near my house ; and 

 were rearing a second brood in the month of July, when the 

 soil was so greatly parched by drought, that if Robins lived 

 only upon berries and earth-worms, they must have starved to 

 death. I had often seen these birds at a distance pecking vig- 

 orously upon the sward, and then drawing out a worm. I 

 knew that there were, at this time, no earth-worms near enough 

 the surface to be within the reach even of the long-billed 

 Snipes. But when the bird was near enough, I could distinct- 

 ly see, by the form and appendages of the creature, that it was 

 invariably a cut-worm of a large species and of an olive green 

 color. The female bird was the most industrious. She would 

 carry off one of these grubs as often as once in five minutes, 

 whenever I watched her movements, and very often she would 

 have two in her bill at a time. One day, close under my win- 

 dow, I saw her bear off three cut-worms at once, all of which 

 were taken before my sight in a space of about a rod square. 

 Never did I see, at any time, an earth-worm in the mouth of 

 this bird, during this month, nor anything else except cut- 

 worms, of which this single pair must have destroyed an in- 

 calculable number. The old birds probably swallow all the 

 hard insects, and save the larva exclusively for their young. 



The fondness of the Robin for juicy fruits, which is the cause 

 of the complaints brought against him, is not peculiar to his 

 species ; but it is most remarkable in birds which are exclu- 

 sively insectivorous. And it is well to consider that Nature 

 does not grant us a benefit without taking some compensation. 

 We must be content to pay for the services of our useful birds, 

 by allowing them, as a perquisite, a certain portion of the 

 fruits of our soil. We must pay the Crow and the Blackbird 



