INSECTIVOROUS AND SONG BIRDS. 23 



shipped to the markets of Washington, D. C, from various points in 

 Virginia and North Carolina. In the spring of 1897 no less than 2,700 

 were received in one lot. These birds were killed near roosts just 

 before the northward migration set in; fortunately their sale could be 

 stopped in the District of Columbia, but their killing at this season 

 was lawful in North Carolina. 



It seems hardly necessary to call attention to the insectivorous habits 

 of robins; but a few details may add emphasis. In an examination of 

 330 stomachs, 1 42 percent of the food was found to consist of animal 

 matter, chiefly insects, while the remainder was made up largely of 

 small fruits or berries. Grasshoppers, caterpillars, and beetles com- 

 posed the principal part of the insect food, grasshoppers forming 

 nearly 30 percent of the total food in the month of August. The veg- 

 etable element, 58 percent, was largely composed of wild fruits, which 

 had been eaten in nearly every month. Cultivated fruit was found in 

 small amounts, chiefly in stomachs collected in June and July, but the 

 depredations of the birds seemed to be confined mainly to smaller and 

 earlier fruits, and as Professor Beal has shown, the damage thus done 

 may be obviated by planting wild fruits, which the birds prefer to 

 cultivated varieties. 



INSECTIVOROUS AND SONG BIRDS. 



An examination of the various State laws shows that definitions of 

 non-game birds accorded protection are in most cases very loose. The 

 matter of definition is a difficult one in view of the fact that the num- 

 ber of birds now recognized in North America is over 1,100, and that 

 the list of even so small a State as Rhode Island (with an area of only 

 about 1,000 square miles) contains no less than 291 2 species, while 374 

 species are known to occur in Colorado 3 and 415 in Nebraska. 4 



Attempts are often made to name the more important birds (as in 

 the case of the Alabama law, which enumerates 50 species), but it is 

 obviously impracticable to name all, and the common practice is to 

 mention a few and to include the others under such general terms as 

 'insectivorous,' 'song,' or 'useful' birds. Georgia depends entirely 

 on the term ' insectivorous or song birds ' and Missouri likewise pro- 

 hibits the killing of 'any wild song bird or insectivorous bird,' without 

 mentioning species. Other States extend their lists of protected 

 species by the terms 'other harmless birds' (Iowa, Minnesota, and 

 Wisconsin), 'any other of the small birds known as singing birds' 



iBeal, Farmers' Bulletin 54, p. 38, 1897. 



2 Howe and Sturtevant, Birds of Rhode Island, 1899. This number does not include 

 the introduced English sparrow. 



3 Cooke, Bull. 44, Colo. Agr. Expt. Station, p. 150, 1898. 

 *Bruner, Some Notes on Nebraska Birds, p. 49, 1896. 



