286 USEFUL BIRDS. 



berries, cranberries, and Juneberries. The methods of 

 protecting cultivated fruit against the Eobin are given 

 elsewhere. 



The Robin is the "early bird that catches the worm." 

 Who has not seen it hopping over the field or lawn, with 

 head erect, looking and perhaps listening for 

 worms and grubs ? All know the skill with 

 which it finds them and drags them forth 

 to daylight. Robins destroy numbers of 

 earthworms every spring, and throughout the season they 

 get as many as they can readily find. Earthworms have been 

 considered useful creatures since Darwin's studies showed us 

 how they help to cultivate the soil ; therefore at first sight 

 we might regard the Robin's habit of eating them as injurious ; 

 but worms are remarkably prolific, and were they to increase 

 without check they might cultivate the fields and lawns so 

 assiduously as to interfere with the growth of plants. Some 

 city lawns where birds are not plentiful have been rendered 

 brown and unsightly by the numerous heaps of castings 

 thrown up by the too plentiful worms. We may safely set 

 down the earthworm habit of the Robin to its credit, so long 

 as it merely assists in destroying the surplus crawlers . Earth- 

 worms, however, form only a small part of the Robin's food 

 for the year. Worms are not found much at the surface in 

 early spring, and during the dry weather of summer they are 

 too far down for the Robin to find them ; nevertheless, he 

 is seen apparently "hunting worms" in the meadows and 

 fields at any time from March to July, and in fact all through 

 the season. If the ground is bare in January or February, 

 Robins may be found now and then searching the fields for 

 insects ; if January and February are snowy, they begin the 

 search in March or early April. They find dormant cut- 

 worms and other caterpillars in some numbers even in Feb- 

 ruary. A very large per cent, of their food in February and 

 March consists of the larvae of March flies (Bibio albipennis). 

 Every investigator who has studied the food of Robins has 

 found quantities of these insects in their stomachs. These 

 larvae live in colonies, and feed mainly on decaying vegetable 



