4 
Conservation Bulletin 18 
the stomachs in June and July, but only a trifle in August. Wild fruit, on the 
contrary, is eaten every month and constitutes a staple food during half the 
year. No less than 65 species of fruit were identified in the stomachs; of these, 
the most important were 4 species of dogwood, 3 of wild cherries, 3 of wild 
grapes, 4 of greenbrier, 2 of holly, 2 of elder; and cranberries, huckleberries, 
blueberries, barberries, service berries, hackberries, and persimmons; together 
with 4 species of sumac and various other seeds not strictly fruit. 
The depredations of the robin seem to he confined to the smaller and earlier 
fruits, few, if any, complaints being made that it eats apples, peaches, pears, 
grapes, or even late cherries. By the time these are ripe the forests and hedges 
are teeming with wild fruits which the bird evidently finds more to its taste. 
The cherry, unfortunately for man, ripens so early that it is almost the only 
fruit accessible at a time when the bird’s appetite has been sharpened by a 
long-continued diet of insects, earthworms, and dried berries, and it is no 
wonder that at first the rich juicy morsels are greedily eaten. 
While the robin takes some cultivated fruits, it must be remembered that, 
being a natural enemy of the insect world, it has been working during the 
whole season to make that crop a possibility, and when the fruit ripens the 
robin already has a standing account with the farmer for services rendered, 
with the cred’'ts up to this time entirely on his side. 
Much has been written about the delicate discrimination of birds for choice 
fruit and their selection of only the finest and costliest varieties. This is con¬ 
trary to observed facts. Birds, unlike human beings, seem to prefer fruit that, 
like the mulberry, is sweetly insipid, or that, like the chokecherry or holly, has 
some astringent or bitter quality. The so-called black alder, a species of holly, 
has bright scarlet berries tasting as bitter as quinine, that ripen late in October 
and remain on the bushes through November. Though frost grapes, the fruit 
of the Virginia creeper, and several species of dogwood are abundant at the 
same time, the birds have been found to eat the berries of the holly to a con¬ 
siderable extent. It is, moreover, a remarkable fact that the wild fruits upon 
which birds largely feed are those which man neither gathers for his own use 
nor adopts for cultivation. 
Where wild fruit is not abundant, a few fruit-bearing shrubs and vines 
judiciously planted will serve for ornament and provide food for the birds. 
The Russian mulberry is a vigorous grower and a profuse bearer, ripening at 
the same time as the cherry. So far as observation has gone, most birds seem 
to prefer its fruit to any other. It is believed that a number of mulberry trees 
planted around the garden or orchard would fully protect the more valuable 
fruits. 
THE TITMICE 
Birds of the titmouse family, though insignificant in size, are far from being 
so in the matter of food habits. What they lack in size of body they more than 
make up in numbers of individuals. While in the case of some larger birds, as, 
for instance, the flicker, there is one pair of eyes to look for food for one large 
stomach, we have in the case of the ten times as numerous titmice an equivalent 
stomach capacity divided into 10 parts, each furnished with a pair of eyes and 
other accessories, as wings and feet. As against the one place occupied by the 
larger bird, 10 are being searched for food at the same time by the smaller 
species. 
The character of the food of titmice gives a peculiar value to their services, 
for it consists largely of the small insects and their eggs that wholly escape the 
search of larger birds. Throughout the year most of the species of this group 
remain on their range, so that they are constantly engaged in their beneficial 
work, continuing it in winter when the majority of their coworkers have 
sought a milder clime. It is at this season that the titmice do their greatest 
good, for when flying and crawling insects are no more to be found, the birds 
must feed upon such species as they find hibernating in crevices, or upon the 
eggs of insects laid in similar places. In winter’s dearth of moving insects the 
search for such animal food as may be found is perforce thorough and 
unremitting. 
Within the boundaries of the United States are some 17 species of titmice, 
with nearly as many races or subspecies, so that there is no portion of the 
country lacking one or more forms. The western coast region is peculiarly rich 
in representatives of the family. In the eastern portion of the country the 
