WESTERN ROBIN. 93 
percent. As in the case of the russet-back thrush, one stomach of the 
hermit contained the bones of a salamander. 
Vegetable food.—The vegetable food is made up of two principal 
components—fruit amd seeds. The former amounts to 29 percent 
of the whole, and is composed of wild species, or of old fruit left on 
trees and vines. A few stomachs contained seeds of raspberries, 
which, of course, must have been old, dried-up fruit. Seeds of the 
pepper tree and mistletoe were the most abundant and, with some 
unidentifiable pulp and skins, make up the complement of fruit. The 
hermit thrush eats more seeds than the russet-back, but does not 
stand high as a weed destroyer. Seeds of all kinds amount to 14 
percent of the food, but only a few are usually reckoned as weed seeds. 
The most abundant seed was poison oak (Rhus diversiloba), which 
was found in a number of stomachs. While this plant is not usually 
classed among weeds, it is really a weed of the worst description, 
since it is out of place no matter where it is. It is unfortunate that 
birds in eating the seeds of this plant do not destroy them, but only 
aid-in their dissemination. 
SUMMARY. 
Ou the whole, the food of the hermit thrush is remarkably free 
from useful products, destruction of which is a loss to mankind. The 
worst-that can be said of the bird is that it eats and scatters the seed 
of poison oak, but.it does not do this to a marked degree. 
WESTERN ROBIN. 
(Meruta migratoria propingiua.) 
In most of the valleys of California the robin is a winter resident 
only, and would be of little economic importance did it not possess 
a voracious appetite, the satisfaction of which occasionally leads to 
lamentable results. Of its summer food we know almost nothing, 
except what may be inferred from its list of edibles while in the 
valleys, and by comparison with the diet of its eastern relative. The 
two birds are so nearly alike that probably in the same environment 
they would eat practically the same things. 
In investigating the food of the western robin 74 stomachs were 
examined. They were taken in every month from September to 
June, inclusive, except May. This number is entirely too small to be 
used as a basis for final conclusions, but it suffices to give a hint as to 
the differences, if any there be, between the food of the eastern and 
western races. Only one stomach was taken in each of the months of 
September, October, and June. The others are well distributed 
through the remaining months. Discarding returns from the three 
