The Canadian Horticulturist. 205 



THE ROBIN, THE ORIOLE AND THE CROW. 



T the meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Mr. 

 Thos. C. Marlow, of West Newbury, read an interesting paper 

 on "The Protection of our Native Birds." Speaking of our 

 , familiar birds, he said : 



The idea prevails widely, that our more familiar birds do more harm by 

 eating small fruits, than they do good by destroying insects. The writer had 

 met at a " Fruit Growers' Convention," men who were apparently intelligent and 

 observing, who declared that the robin was "a thief and deserved extermina- 

 tion." It is true that a flock of birds will quickly despoil the crop of a single 

 tree of a favorite fruit, but the large grower of .small fruits who does it for profit, 

 while offering a larger, temptation, counts his loss in this way as trifling. Mr. 

 Samuels, in his "Birds of New England," says, "the prejudice against the robin 

 is unjust and unfounded." Professor Treadwell, of Cambridge, say, " The food 

 of the robin while with us consists principally of worms, various insects, their 

 larvae and eggs, and a few cherries ; of worms and cherries they can procure but 

 few, and during a short period. Therefore they are obliged to subsist principally 

 on canker worms, some kinds of caterpillars and bugs." Wilson Flagg writes, 

 " I am now fully persuaded that the robin is valuable beyond all other species of 

 birds ; that his services are absolutely indispensable to the farmers of New Eng- 

 land. The truth is, the robin is almost exclusively insectivorous, using fruit as 

 we do, only as a dessert, and consumes probably a greater variety of species of 

 insects than does any other bird." 



This prejudice extends — although in less degree — to many other insect-eat- 

 ing birds, besides the robin. The oriole is accused of eating green peas ; 

 the cat-bird and thrush are known to have eaten raspberries, and some farmers 

 shoot the red-winged black-bird, and hire boys to break up their nests because, 

 as they say, they have been caught in the act of pulling up corn. But alas for 

 the poor bobolink ! It has been positively asserted that these birds would des- 

 troy the whole rice crop of the South, unless active measures were taken for 

 their destruction. That large flocks of these birds hover over the rice fields and 

 often light down upon them, is no doubt true, but the writer believed the 

 amount of damage done by them was greatly exaggerated. He would kindly 

 suggest to the rice growers that this matter be carefully examined, and further- 

 more, to find if the damage by the increasing host of insects was not far in 

 excess of that done by the birds. He feared that if something is not speedily 

 done to prevent the wholesale destruction of this and some other species of 

 birds they will become extinct in a few years. 



Among the enemies of our small, insect-eating birds, he thought the common 

 crow did more damage by destroying the eggs and young of these useful 

 species than he did by destroying the few insects he devours. This fellow had 



