li, 275 
"hj of bird-life, and even our great Audubon, compare the Robin's song to that of the European 
Чу, Blackbird, and maintain that the song of both birds is very similar. Judging from my own 
De > experience, which is confined to caged Blackbirds, I would say that this is only conditionally true, 
к viz., so far as the voice, the note itself, is concerned. Both birds, which are very near relatives, f 
An have a powerful and beautifully flute-like whistle, but the Blackbird's song is more continuous, more | 
1%» modulated, the Robin's briefer, more monotonous. Тһе Blackbird is one of the very best and most | 
іш superb of songsters, and the comparison of the two birds shows that our Robin is to be classed with | 
б the finest of singers. What makes the song of the Robin ‘especially valuable, is the fact that it is і 
ini uttered in the immediate neighbourhood of our rural and even city homes, where every lover of | 
ет nature can delight in it during the pleasant season of the year. Тһе loud flute-like, highly ! 
an melodious song poured forth in magnificent maestoso involuntarily reminds one of the clear, quietly | 
й. flowing notes of a sacred song. Whenever the bird sits high aloft and sends its voice to the | 
ik distance, all the other male Robins of the neighbourhood feel duty bound to enter into competition. | 
ЫБ Soon three, four, and even more, may be heard in loud chorus. This is usually the case during | 
г. evening twilight, and then one may hear quite a number of birds all striving to outsing one another, Е 
ља while they make the surroundings echo with the powerful vibration of their jubilant, exultant melody. | 
kin What is a northern garden without its joyful songsters, the Robins? Who can fail to love them ' | 
Ti Even the farmer, if he does not lack all sense of beauty in nature, is delighted to see a pair of these | 
нар fine, lively birds, so versed in melody, take up their home in his garden, for they belong to the first | 
i of living beings to hail him with the greeting of morning when he enters the open air at early | 
Duc dawn. t 
118 “But the Robin is also a very useful bird. Its food consists during the greater part of the | 
ux year of insects, which are usually captured on the ground. It consumes incalculable numbers of the | 
юп very destructive cut-worms, canker-worms, beetles and their larve, grasshoppers, borers, snails, | 
ТҮ caterpillars, and many others. This usefulness increases as the young are hatched. Then the parents i 
ще destroy an immense number of insects, confining their attention almost entirely to those species that 
yii do great damage to vegetation, destroying in every conceivable manner fruit-trees and ornamental 
и plants as well as vegetables, and working mischief which man is generally helpless to remedy. 
This is likewise true of all our other small garden birds, such as the Catbirds, ‘Thrashers, Mocking- 
ші birds, Bluebirds, Vireos, Titmice, Warblers, Orioles, Kingbirds, and others. If the Robin does take 
a few ripe cherries and other small fruits, it is no more than just that it should receive this reward 
for its usefulness. The few berries, grapes, «сс. consumed by this bird are not to be compared with 
the great number of insects it destroys. As it does not occur in flocks, except during migration and 
in winter, it is evident that it can do but very little harm. 
“<The Robin, says Dr. Elliott Coues, “із a great eater of berries and soft fruits of every 
description; and these furnish, during the colder portion of the year, its chief sustenance. Some of 
the cultivated fruits of the orchard and garden are specially attractive, and no doubt the birds 
E demand their tithe. But the damage done in this way is trifling at most, and wholly inconsiderable 
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id in comparison with the great benefit resulting from the destruction of noxious insects by this bird. 
y? Тһе prejudice which some persons entertain against the Robin is unreasonable ; the wholesale 
p slaughter of the birds which annually takes place in many localities is as senseless as it is cruel. 
y? Few persons have any adequate idea of the enormous—the literally incalculable—numbers of insects 
(p that Robins eat every year. It has been found, by careful and accurate observations, that a young 
аў Robin, in the nest, requires а daily supply of animal food equivalent to considerably more than its 
„N own weight! When we remember that some millions of pairs of Robins raise five or six young ones, 
Я | . once, twice, or even three times a year, it will be seen that the resulting destruction of insects is, as 
yo I have said, simply incalculable. I have по doubt that the services of these birds, en the time 
y VOL. I. 90 
