44. 
JiY TUK WAYSIDE 
i 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
Published on the tenth of each month except 
July and August. 
The official organ of the Wisconsin, Illinois and 
Michigan Audubon Societies. 
Twenty-five cents per year Single copies 5 cents 
Contributions to By tiie Wayside are invited 
from all lovers of Nature nnd friends of the 
birds. All communications should be sent to 
Roland E. Kremers, 1720 Vilas St., Madison, 
Wis. 
lives by bleary eyes and uncertain twit¬ 
terings. Just to show bow sober they 
think they are they will stroll across 
paths as though inviting some one to 
practice gunnery. 
Once the lure of the china berry is 
broken, for the fruit will soon dry, the 
robins which have escaped the wages 
of drink, soon get themselves together 
and reform utterly. When the time for 
the flight to the North has come they 
are again their old selves. 
The plea, ‘''Save the robin,” not only 
from himself, but from the fowler, is 
issued at this time, as in the fall there 
is special need of something being done. 
In Florida robins may be killed at 
any time, as well as in many counties 
oi Maryland, while in Louisiana and 
Mississippi they are slain in the fall and 
winter. Tn Virginia they are protected 
m only a few counties. 
One Young Robin Ate 165 Cutworms 
in a Day 
“On llie 9th of June I weighed the 
bird; its weight was exactly three 
ounces; and then I tried to find how 
much it would eat. it being now quite 
aide 1 o feed itself. With the assistance 
ol my children 1 gathered a large num¬ 
ber’ of cutworms and gave them to the 
robin after weighing them. In the 
course of that day it ate just five and 
one-half ounces of cutworms. Tliesi 
grubs averaged thirty to the ounce, so 
the young robin ate one hundred and 
sixtv-five cutworms in one day. lfad 
it been at liberty it probably would 
have eaten some insects of other species 
and fewer cutworms, but this shows 
about what each young robin requires 
for its maintenance when growing; the 
adult birds require much less, of course. 
The average number of young raised 
bv a robin is four, and there are usu- 
• 
ally two broods in a season. A very 
simple calculation will give a good idea 
of the number of insects destroyed while 
the young are in the nest.” 
In the past farmers have been mis 
sriided in their actions by not knowing 
the economic relations that our common 
birds bear to agriculture. Hawks and 
owls are often regarded as more harm¬ 
ful than beneficial to the agriculturist! 
For example, on June 24, 1885, the Leg! 
islaturc of Pennsylvania passed a bill 
known as the Scalp Act. This was for 
the purpose of benefiting the farmer by 
killing hawks, owls, and other creatures 
that were preying upon his chicken-?. 
As soon as these birds began to he 
killed off, the farmer discovered that 
mice and other small animals were mak¬ 
ing heavy inroads upon his crops. 
In a year and a half the sum of ninety 
thousand dollars was paid out in boun¬ 
ties to kill these creatures which acted 
as extra hands about the farm and did 
work that no one else could do. A car> 
'ul estimate showed that the fanner 
saved $1,875 in poultry which might 
have been destroyed, but on the o,ther 
band there was a clear loss of $3,875,140 
in bounties and crop losses. In otbei 
words, the State spent $2,105 for eve'*y 
dollar saved. 
