AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 143 



faculty of discovering and seizing the grubs that lie concealed beneath the 

 surface of the ground. Though the robin does not possess this faculty, he 

 is pre-eminently serviceable in other ways ; and the more I have studied 

 his habits the more I am convinced of his usefulness. Indeed, I am now 

 fully persuaded that he is valuable beyond all other species of birds, and 

 that his services are absolutely indispensable to the farmer of New Eng- 

 gland. Some persons believe that the robin is exclusively a frugivorous 

 bird, and that for fruit he will reject all other food that is within his reach. 

 Others believe that his diet consists chiefly of insects. 



I then took three others from different nests, and fed them more 

 exclusively on worms, with some fruit. Two of these also soon died, 

 and the remaining one appeared ill and drooping. I suggested that 

 the bird probably needed insects as well as worms, which alone were not 

 sufficient to supply all the wants of the system, though he had access to 

 cherries and soaked bread, of which he could eat whenever he wanted them. 

 After this he was supplied with all sorts of grubs and insects which my 

 son was able to capture. The robin devoured these indiscriminately and 

 with great eagerness. He was never known to refuse one of any descrip- 

 tion ; though bees and wasps were not offered to him, all kinds of beetles, 

 moths, bugs, grubs, vine worms, chrysalids and caterpillars which were 

 presented to him he devoured. 



After this improvement of his diet, the bird soon recovered his health ; 

 and the experiment proved conclusively that this variety of insect food 

 was necessary to the life of the bird, at least while he was young. These 

 insects were not put into his mouth ; they were placed upon the floor of his 

 cage, and he picked them up, killing them in a way that showed that he 

 kneiv instinctively how to manage them, I mark these words in italics 

 because they contain an important fact. He was particular in beating the 

 vine worm considerably before he swallowed it ; but he never refused one 

 or neglected to eat it. On one occasion, having swallowed a hard beetle, 

 and finding it incommodious, he threw it out of his crop by a voluntary 

 effort, beat it awhile with his bill against the floor, and then swallowed it 

 again. This fact also proved his instinctive knowledge of the mode of 

 proceeding in such emergencies. 



It is a fact worthy of notice, that the golden robin, which has the repu- 

 tation of performing more service than the common robin, may, when con- 

 fined in a cage, be fed almost entirely on farinaceous food, without injury 

 to his health. This fact is good evidence that the common robin is more 

 entirely insectivorous than the golden robin. The contrary is generally 

 believed. 



The fondness of the robin for cherries and other fruit is not peculiar to 

 his species ; it is equally remarkable in almost all other insectivorous birds. 

 The birds that do not eat cherries are generally of those species which are 

 the least valuable to agriculture, such as the graminivorous birds, includ- 

 ing most of the finches. And it is a fact which ought to be more generally 

 known, that the most useful birds are such as are in one sense the most 



