70 Wild Bird Guests 



are still ruthlessly destroyed in many of ou, 

 southern states. They are killed for food and 

 the negroes and poor whites supply the mar- 

 kets. When the holly berries are ripe, the robins 

 gather by tens of thousands to feed upon them 

 and their coming is the signal for every negro 

 who can afford a three-dollar gun to get out 

 and shoot them. The robins are also very 

 fond of cedar berries, and during the winter 

 months where these are plentiful, they gather 

 in immense flocks. The fact that they roost in 

 the cedars at night, makes possible another form 

 of slaughter. Men and boys with torches each 

 climb a tree while companions with poles and 

 clubs disturb the robins and cause them to fly 

 about. Dazzled by the torches, the sleepy 

 robins fly to the torch-bearer who kills them by 

 either pinching their necks or pulling their heads 

 off^, and drops their bodies into a bag. Three 

 or four hundred birds represent a fair night's 

 work for a man, and sometimes there are a 

 hundred or more men engaged. The contribu- 

 tion of a single southern village in a year will 

 sometimes amount to hundreds of thousands of 

 birds and there are many villages. It is hardly 

 to be wondered at if we fail to see large numbers 

 of robins on our lawns in the spring. 

 The ignorant southern negroes are a problem 



