The Robin 207 



noxious insects by this bird. The prejudice which 

 some persons entertain against the robin is unreason- 

 able; the wholesale slaughter of the birds which 

 annually takes place in many localities is as senseless 

 as it is cruel. Few persons have any adequate idea 

 of the enormous, the literally incalculable, number 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 considerably more than its own 

 weight. When we remember that some millions of 

 pairs of robins raise four or six young ones once, 

 twice, or even three times a year, it will be seen that 

 the resulting destruction in insects is, as I have said, 

 incalculable. I have no doubt that the services of 

 these birds, during the time they are engaged in 

 rearing their young alone, would entitle them to 

 protection were the parents themselves to feed exclu- 

 sively upon garden fruit 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 birds, early in spring, 

 long before any fruits are ripe, they throw themselves 

 into the newly ploughed fields, and scatter over 

 meadows, lawns, and parks, in eager search for the 



