726 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
little huckster doesn’t cheat him in the bargain. That is to say, that while 
the bird is not so precious that we need make it an act of sacrilege to show 
him the muzzle of a gun in acherry orchard. * * * on the other hand 
it would be an enormous blunder to wage ourselves, or to permit others 
to wage, any general or indiscriminate war against him” (Trans. Ill. State 
Hort. Soc. Vol. 14, 1880, pp. 111-112). 
Study of the food of nine Robins killed in an orchard overrun with 
canker-worms showed that only three had eaten canker-worms, these 
forming about one-fifth of their food. Insects formed 93 percent of the 
food of the nine robins, myriapods 5 percent, earthworms and mollusks 
the remainder. Cutworms were extraordinarily prominent, forming 2S 
percent. Half of them were the bronzy cutworm (Nephelodes violans). 
Coleoptera formed 36 percent, of which 11 percent were click beetles, 
clateride (Bull. Ill. State Lab. Nat. Hist. No. 6, pp. 5-6). 
Prof. F. E. L. Beal, of the United States Department of Agriculture, 
has reported upon the food contained in the stomachs of 330 Robins taken 
at various times and places, and he states that 42 percent of the entire 
food was animal matter, chiefly insects, while vegetable matter formed 
58 percent of the stomach contents, over 47 percent being wild fruits 
and only a little more than 4 percent cultivated varieties. During June 
and July cultivated fruits amounted to upwards of 25 percent. Mr. E. 
V. Wilcox, of the Ohio Experiment Station, reported in 1891 upon the 
stomach contents of about 200 Robins taken in Ohio during April, May, 
June, July and August. He found that the beneficial species of plants 
and animals eaten by these Robins amounted to 52.4 percent, while the 
injurious species formed 18.6 percent, and neutral species 28.9 percent. 
There is no question that the Robin sometimes does a large amount of 
good in its consumption of insects, especially by eating cutworms and 
grasshoppers; it must be remembered, however, that the major part of 
its insect food is taken from the ground and that hence the Robin is a 
factor of little importance in limiting the activity of the spanworms and 
other caterpillars which defoliate our fruit and shade trees. It also eats 
large numbers of insects which at best are not harmful, and which possibly 
may be beneficial. 
It is a remarkable fact that no extended investigation of the Robin’s 
food, based upon stomach contents, has indicated more than a very small 
proportion of earthworms, less than 2 percent being the maximum record 
so far as we can find. On the other hand, it is a matter of common, almost 
universal, observation that the Robin during spring and early summer, 
and again for a considerable time in autumn, feeds very largely upon 
earthworms. The writer has seen a Robin extract from the ground and 
eat or carry away for its young ten or a dozen worms in as many minutes, 
and observations made continuously for many seasons here in Michigan 
have convinced us that the first brood of young under ordinary conditions 
is reared very largely upon this diet. This is not due to the entire absence 
of other food, but merely to the fact that the earthworms are abundant, 
easily obtainable, and in no way objectionable as food for the young or 
old. This disparity between the results of observation in the field and 
stomach examination in the laboratory suggests the probability that there 
is yet much to be learned in regard to the food of the Robin. 
It should be noted particularly that in Michigan at the present time it 
is unlawful to kill Robins at any season; furthermore, it is impossible 
to shoot Robins which are taking fruit of any kind without serious injury 
