148 



Pood of the Robin — In Bulletin 43 of the Ohio Agricultural Experiment 

 Station Mr. E. Y. Wilcox summarizes his recent extensive investiga- 

 tions upon the food of the Eobin. We have previously noticed a j)re- 

 liminary article upon this subject, published in the Journal of the 

 Columbus Horticultural Society. In this later paper Mr. Wilcox 

 reviews the literature of the subject, critically examining the statements 

 of S. A. Forbes and F. H. King, and tabulates the stomach contents 

 examined by himself. These are 60 of birds shot in April, 18 in May, 

 49 in June, 45 in July, and 15 in August, a total of 187 in all. The 

 totals of insect contents are as follows: 52.4 per cent of beneficial 

 species, 18.6 per cent of injurious species, and 28.9 per cent of neutral 

 species. The question of damage to fruit is considered, and in sum- 

 ming it up Mr. Wilcox concludes that the fruit- gTower should be allowed 

 to kill the Eobin during the season when it is most harmful, and should 

 not, as at present, be in danger of arrest and fine for shooting these 

 birds in his own garden. In arriving at this result he allows for the 

 possibility that, as contended by Forbes, the services of the predaceous 

 beetles which the Eobin destroys have been overestimated. Following 

 this paper by Mr. Wilcox are some remarks by the Horticulturist of the 

 Station, Mr. W. J. Green, in which the fondness of the Eobin for ber. 

 ries is shown, and the sensible point is made that whatever the services 

 of the Eobin to the pubUc in general ' may be, the tax upon berry- 

 growers is too great for them to bear alone. Following Mr. G-reen's 

 remarks is a statement from Mr. F. M. Webster, Entomologist of the 

 Ohio Station, gi^ang the results of the examination of 14 stomachs of 

 birds shot in meadows, Mr. Wilcox's specimens having been mainly 

 taken from birds shot in a fruit-growing section. Mr. Webster shows 

 that although the larvae of crane-flies were very abundant in the fields 

 in which the Eobins were killed, only 3 of the 14 had eaten these larvae 

 and only 1 had made a fuU meal of this food. He generalizes from this 

 that while Eobins get from grasslands in April and May a large part 

 of their food, it has so far proven to consist mainly of insects of whose 

 destructive propensities we have as yet no proof. The trouble here is, 

 however, that Tipulid larvae are so soft that remains are not apt to be 

 found unless thev were recentlv swallowed. 



A BuUetin from Oklahoma.— Bulletin 3 of the Oklahoma Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, published June 3, 1892, contains 20 pages of in- 

 sect notes by the Director of the Station, Dr, J. 0. ^eal. The bulletin 

 is entirely compiled, and treats of the Imported Cabbage Butterfly, 

 the Cabbage Plusia, Cut Worms, the Boll Worm, the Striped Melon- 

 beetle, the Twig Girdler, the Chinch Bug, the Horn Fly, and the difler* 

 ent formulas for insecticides. 



