290 USEFUL BIRDS. 



per cent, of their food. In my experience, caterpillars and 

 grubs form a very large percentage of their food, particu- 

 larly cutworms. A goodly number of earthworms are fed 

 in spring, when they are to be had in abundance ; but cut- 

 worms seem to be a favorite food at all times. Beetles 

 (including curculios, snap beetles, and wireworms), grass- 

 hoppers, crickets, Noctuid moths, spiders, snails, katydids, 

 grass blades (probably picked up with insects) , and a few 

 seeds, are all found in the stomachs of the young. 



Mrs. Irene G. Wheelock watched the nest of a pair of 

 Robins, and in three hours sixty-one earthworms, sixteen 

 yellow grubs, thirty-eight other insects, four grasshoppers, 

 and a few dragon flies and moths were carried to the nest- 

 lings. The last few days that they were in the nest, food 

 was brought to them every three minutes. 



The earliest broods reared get practically no fruit, but the 

 late broods are fed some fruit while in the nest, and after they 

 leave the nest they live more largely on fruit than do the par- 

 ent birds, probably because it is easier to find than insects, 

 which the young birds are at first not skillful in capturing. 



The Robin'thrives wherever there are gardens and orchards. 

 In the prairie States, where there is little native fruit, it has 

 become very destructive to cultivated small fruits, and even 

 to apples ; but in Massachusetts, where wild fruit is plenti- 

 ful, its principal depredations may be mostly obviated by 

 planting early mulberries or shadberries. The Robin de- 

 serves the protection it now receives from the law. 



Bluebird. 



Sialia sialis. 



Length. — Six and one-half to seven inches. 



Adult Male. — Above, bright azure blue ; breast and under parts bright chestnut, 



except the belly, which is white, or bluish-white. 

 Adult Female. — Similar, but much duller or paler. 

 Young. — Mostly brown, with blue on wings and tail; breast speckled with 



brownish and white. 

 Nest. — In a hole in a tree, post, or in a bird house. 

 Eggs. — Pale blue, rarely white. 

 Season. — March to November ; seen rarely in winter months. 



The Bluebird is perhaps first of all birds in the affections 

 of the rural population of New England. Its gentle note, at 



