iooS General Notes. [December, 



The statement often seen in the books that " robins feed 

 their young entirely upon animal food," is altogether too sweep- 

 ing. Without doubting the veracity of the person who first made 

 use of this expression, I think his observations must have been 

 confined to the earlier broods, and in the season before any fruits 

 were ripe or approximately ripened. That robins can be reared 

 upon animal food alone is probably true ; that they are not so 

 reared when fruits are obtainable is equally true, and in a dearth 

 of insects they can be raised upon food consisting largely of 

 fruit. 



I am fully aware of the fact that in areas of some extent — usu- 

 ally quite limited however — the small-fruit grower sometimes 

 finds the robins very annoying, and even injurious, but to the com- 

 munity at large, and certainly to the agriculturist and market 

 gardener, they are decidedly beneficia'l and of incalculable worth, 

 from their enormous destruction of noxious insects, especially in 

 spring and early summer. Protected as they are by law a part 

 of the season, I sincerely wish that the " close " time were meas- 

 ured by the year. — Elisha Sla<i\\ Somerset, Mass. 



More Complaint about Passer domesticus. — This proliferous 

 gourmand is adding a new item to his bill of fare with us this sea- 

 son. As soon as wheat was fully headed out, dozens of these 

 pests could be seen in one flock to settle down in the fields on the 

 wheat-stalks and commence picking out the grains. Now that 

 wheat is cut and shocked, they light on these and take their fill. 

 I have noticed similar reports in some of the agricultural papers. 

 — / Schncck, Mt. Carmcl. III. 



A Prolific Garter Snake. — July 26th, 1882, a specimen, thir- 

 ty-four inches long, of Eutania sirtalis B. and G., was brought to 

 me from which were taken seventy-eight young ; these varying 

 from seven to five inches in length.' The young were pressed 

 from the vent. The first twenty or so were free from any cover- 

 ing. The remainder were in sacks, from three to five snakes in 



May not this latter fact lead us to think this species possibly 

 also ovo-viviparous as well as viviparous? I do not know that 

 the number of young is without a precedent, but it exceeds, by 

 far, anything I have observed.—-/- Schmck, 



The Spotted Spreading Adder Viviparous.— Since sending 

 the note on the Garter Snake, I haw learned of a still more re- 

 markable case. A "spotted spreading adder "was shot in two, 

 near the middle; when eiglitv-scven young were taken from her 

 body. The snake was a large one of this species. The young 

 were near six inches long. This occurred within the last two 

 weeks, and in the presence of nearly a dozen persons, from sev- 

 eral of whom I have gathered the facts. —J. St h neck. 



