328 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



taken in an apple orchard, or in the act of going to or from cherry trees 

 located near said orchard. Thirteen birds of this series showed, on dis- 

 section, remains of cherries ; five of the thirteen had only this fruit in 

 their viscera. The remaining- eight birds had, in addition, and certainly 

 with two exceptions, in excess, insect food, consisting mainly of small 

 brown and black-colored beetles. One bird had in its stomach two earth- 

 worms. Seven young birds, taken from the nests, with the exception of 

 one that had a small piece of cherry, which, however, was present in con- 

 nection with a large insect mass, furnished only proof of an insectivo- 

 rous diet, which was so comminuted as to be almost unrecognizable. 

 Sufficient evidences, however, were present to establish the fact that 

 beetles were an important element in their bill of fare. Two birds des- 

 titute of all food materials. 



Dr. Coues (Birds of the Colorado Valley) writes : " The Robin is a 

 great eater of berries and soft fruits of every description, and these fur- 

 nish, during the colder portion of the year, its chief sustenance. Some 

 of the cultivated fruits of the orchard and garden are specially attractive, 

 and no doubt the birds demand their tithe. But the damage in this 

 way is trifling at most, and wholly inconsiderable in comparison with 

 the great benefit resulting from the destruction of noxious insects by 

 this bird. The prejudice which some persons entertain against the 

 Robin is unreasonable ; the wholesale slaughter of the birds which an- 

 nually takes place in many localities, is as senseless as it is cruel. Few 

 persons have any adequate idea of the enormous, the literally incalcu- 

 lable, numbers of insects that Robins eat every year. It has been found, 

 by careful and accurate observations, that a young Robin, in the nest, 

 requires a daily supply of animal food equivalent to considerable more 

 than its own weight. When we remember that some millions of pairs 

 of Robins raise five or six young ones once, twice or even three times a 

 year, it will be seen that the resulting destruction of insects is, as I have 

 said, incalculable. I have no doubt that the services of these birds, dur- 

 ing the time they are engaged in rearing their young alone, would en- 

 title them to protection were the parents themselves to feed exclusively 

 upon garden fruits for the whole period. But at this time the diet of 

 the old birds is very largely of an animal nature ; nor is this the only 

 season during which the destruction of insects goes on. Upon the first 

 arrival of the main body of the birds, early in the spring, long before any 

 fruits are ripe, they throw themselves into newly-plowed fields, and scat- 

 ter over meadows, lawns and parks, in eager search for the worms and 

 grubs that, later in the season, would prove invincible to the agricul- 

 turist were not their ravages thus stayed in advance by the friendly army 

 of Robins." 



