THE ROBIN. 
113 
"'ortn'^ white. Their principal, food is berries, 
of jL caterpillars. ■ Of the first he prefers those 
of„.| ® sour gum (iiyssa sylvatica.) So fond are they 
®OVer I ^'T'os, that wherever there is one of these trees 
^ourh^** fruit, and Hocks of rohius in the neigh- 
the sportsman need only take his stand near 
"^'th I't flock succeeding another, 
Hietlif, , hiterruption, almost the whole day ; by this 
tli^jjj o l(rodigiou.s slaughter has been made among 
porijn '),'*'** httle fatigue. When berries fail, they dis- 
in tliemselves over the fields, and along the fences, 
Hijj /.“u of worms and other insects. Sometimes they 
gre^.p “PPcni’ for a week or two, and return again in 
POttr**^ “umbers than before; at which time the cities 
are nl*****- sportsmen by scores, and the markets 
Ja„P *“tifully su])plied with them at a cheap rate. In 
1807, tn o young men, in one excursion after 
tieu ’ ihirty dozen. In the midst of such devasta- 
Sxj ’ \''^“ch continued many weeks, and, by accounts, 
Pcrjjo ^*■01“ Massachusetts to Maryland, some humane 
th, 
-vse 1 ^“ok advantage of a cinairastauce common to 
Tfie „hu'ds in winter, to stoji the general slaughter. 
^“Ui I *'•'*' poke-berries {phytolacca decandria, 
&re “ favourite repast with the robin, after they 
Of i, flowed by the frost. I'he juice of the berries is 
crimson, and they are eaten in such 
ihese birds, that their whole stomachs are 
f“>ged with the same red colour. A paragraph 
flie *“ the public papers, intimating, that from 
“ad fpj®*' quantities of these berries which the robins 
i*“jrer ****' become unwholesome, and even 
Ow • .i-nzl o 1 t-v.-.t.i, . . . . 1.. .. .3 .....iX*. J 
“y catf*'* several persons had suffered 
' "'els*” c them. The strange appearance of the 
S'etij*”! them. The — ,,, — 
fhedjJ^ *'!’? birds seemed to corroborate this account. 
ti®o them, ceased almost instantly ; 
tbg I''®'* ®f self-preservation produced at once what 
lucadings of humanity cpuld not effect.* When 
«rvi 
Drayton, in his View of South Carolina, p. 86, 
’ 'at “ the robins in winter devour the berries of the 
