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FOOD OF ROBINS AND BLUEBIRDS. 5 



by birds in the East are usually from the immediate vicinity of 

 villages or towns where there is no natural fruit-bearing shrubbery. 

 From this it follows that an effective remedy for the ravages of 

 birds upon cultivated fruits is to plant the preferred wild varieties. 

 In the list given farther on (p. 13) are a number of species that are 

 ornamental and usually are easily obtained. 



On the western coast the habits of the robin appear to be the re- 

 verse of those of its eastern relative, for in summer it migrates north- 

 ward or up into the high mountainous regions where it breeds, 

 and in fall it returns to spend the winter in the valleys about 

 orchards, vineyards, and cattle corrals; so that while in the East 

 the robin is a summer bird, in the far West it belongs to the winter 

 fauna. 



Food. — The robin is omnivorous and feeds upon pretty much 

 every eatable accessible. In spring when insect and other animal 

 life begins to stir, this bird is on hand to take the first angleworms, 

 snails, or sow bugs that show themselves. Then when the weather 

 is a little warmer he takes the first beetles that appear, and so estab- 

 lishes a reputation for destroying useful Coleoptera (Carabidse). 

 At this time he eats the waste fruit left on the tree over winter, but 

 when the early service berries {Amelanchier) ripen in June he feeds 

 upon them, and later as the early cherries begin to color he tries them 

 for variety. In July raspberries tempt his appetite and in August 

 he fills up on grasshoppers. Thus each month brings something to 

 supply his wants. 



In investigating the food of the robin 1,236 stomachs from 42 

 States, the District of Columbia, and 3 Canadian Provinces were 

 examined. They represent every month in the year and include 

 the three subspecies generally recognized — migratorius, propinquus, 

 and achrusterus. Analysis showed that the food consisted of 42.40 

 per cent animal matter and 57.60 per cent vegetable. 



Animal food. — As the robin is an early migrant from the south 

 he naturally preys on the first insects that come out from winter 

 quarters. Useful Carabidse, or predaceous ground beetles, which 

 are among the earliest insects to appear in spring, form a very im- 

 portant element of the food of the first spring migrants among the 

 birds. These beetles form 12.78 per cent of the food of the robin in 

 April, and 8.57 per cent in March. After April, when other prey 

 becomes more abundant, fewer appear in the food, but they are taken 

 to some extent in every month and aggregate 5 per cent for the year. 

 Beetles of the May-beetle family (Scarabpeida?) are eaten to the 

 extent of 5.48 per cent of the yearly food, but in May, the month of 

 their greatest abundance, they amount to 32.29 per cent, or nearly one- 

 third of the diet. Various species of these beetles were found in 274 

 stomachs. Of these, Lachnostema, the progenitors of the white grubs 



