THE ROBIN. 157 



what proportion of the time the ground is very dry through 

 the summer. Caterpillars, grubs of various kinds, and 

 insects, therefore constitute the chief food of these birds ; 

 and of these, caterpillars and grubs being the most abun- 

 dant, and most easily caught, furnish, of course, the larger 

 proportion. 



In fact, the Thrushes seem designed by nature to rid the 

 surface of the soil of noxious insects not often pursued by 

 most other birds. The warblers capture the insects that 

 prey on the foliage of the trees ; the flycatchers seize these 

 insects as they fly from the trees ; the swallows capture 

 those which have escaped all these ; the woodpeckers destroy 

 them when in the larva state in the wood ; the wrens, nut- 

 hatches, titmice, and creepers eat the eggs and young that 

 live on and beneath the bark ; but the thrushes subsist on 

 those that destroy the vegetation on the surface of the earth. 

 They destroy nearly all kinds of grubs, caterpillars, and 

 worms that live upon the greensward and cultivated soil, 

 and large quantities of crickets and grasshoppers before 

 they have become perfect insects. The grubs of locusts, 

 of harvest-flies, and of beetles, which are turned up by the 

 plough or the hoe, and their pupae when emerging from the 

 soil ; apple-worms, when they leave the fruit and crawl about 

 in quest of new shelter ; and those subterranean caterpillars, 

 the cutworms, that come out of the earth to take their food, — 

 all these, and many others, are eagerly devoured by the 

 Robin and other Thrushes. The cutworms emerge from 

 the soil during the night to seek for food ; and the Robin, 

 which is one of the earliest birds to go abroad in the morn- 

 ing, is very diligent at the dawn of day in hunting for these 

 vermin before they have gone back into their retreat. The 

 number of these destructive grubs is immense. " Whole 

 cornfields,*' says Dr. Harris, " are sometimes laid waste by 

 them. Cabbage-plants, till they are grown to a considerable 

 size, are very apt to be cut off and destroyed by them. Po- 

 tato-vines, beans, beets, and various other culinary plants, 



