f 
‘crow blackbird (Quiscalus versicolor) and the cuckoo (Coceygus 
_ the owner, when she had thus been robbed, and appropriate it ee 
her own, depositing a remaining egg of her clutch, or Maye 
_ turbs the rights of other birds. Occasionally she only drops moo 
ee THE ROBIN. 
farmers and countrymen in general, as to his character and 
habits. They shoot and stone, and destroy and berate, but 
never praise him; still he perseveres, in the very teeth of ‘an 
adverse fate, and comes regularly with the spring months, 
appearing sometimes, in clement seasons, in eastern New York, 
in February, and remaining oftentimes when ‘the fall is favorable 
until late in November, and instances have keen known when a : 
straggler separated from the main flock has remained, and survived : 
the severity of a winter in latitude 42° north, in a locality where 
evergreens were prevalent. The robin can accommodate himself 
to a variety of food, and during the summer season is the farmers ` 
best friend, . He is hardy and robust and brave, one of our val- 
uable, but most badly~abused birds. His food is mainly insectiv- 
orous, from the time he comes amongst us until late in the 
autumn. He makes occasional visits to the cherry tree but does 
not depend on it for a subsistence as he is supposed to do. He 
pecks at the cherries because they are red, just as he would pick 
to pieces a red flower. The species appears fond of the color. 
In the fall they feed largely on wild berries, and are slaughtered 
by the thousands by sportsmen along the lines of the Hudson, in 
the cedar thickets, which they frequent, feeding on the berries, 
on the islands in the harbor of New York Bay, and in New Jersey- 
Iam too much the friend of this bird to; be blind to his petty 
faults, for petty indeed they must remain so long as his increase _ 
is kept in rigid restriction by his many enemies. The crow 
(Corvus Americanus) commits fearful and cruel depredations 02 
the robin and his belongings. The species is a bitter foe to all a 
smaller birds, and keeps- thèm in severe check, but the-robin a 
suffers numerous outrages from other hands, and the elements some- . 
times play him a mischievous trick. Not only the crow, but the 
Americanus) often rob the nest after the eggs are laid, and : 
all the female’s labor proves in vain. The robin will steal into 
the nest of one of her own kind, during a temporary absence OF 
more and, if plucky, will drive off the legal owner, and da 
er GY 
bold possession, bestow all her care thereon, but she nev 
egg into a sister’s nest when taken short, her own being destroyed, 
