| six ellen of water daily if it swallowed i in the same greedy 
- fashion. 
Under such conditions, is it any wonder that robins _ 
learn to eat almost any kind of food? Notice the long 
slender bill, and realize what a perfect tool it is. Hard or 
soft material: insects, bread crumbs, seeds, wild or cultivat- 
ed fruit can be easily managed. To be sure, this fact makes 
enemies for them. For the 4% of his food that he takes in | 
- gmall fruits, which man wants for himself, the 42% of © 
insects hunted all the year in gardens and lawns is forgotten. . : 
People could use their greater intelligence and outwit the 
bird if they will not let him have his part. The birds prefer 
wild fruit and would take it if placed near the cultivated 
varieties. They especially like the madrone and the 
mountain ash berries and yet these trees are rapidly van- 
ishing before the ax, and therefore the robins take what. 
_ they find in place of the wild fruit. 
After you watch a robin get provisions for his faintly: 
you may be willing to share your strawberries or place a 
guard over them. His direct, clear-cut, rapid flight toward 
his goal plainly shows that he knows where he is going and a 
what he is after. His poise on your lawn shows that he © 
- feels himself master of earth as well as of sky. His ears © 
are as alert as his poise, for they appear to notice even the 
minute scratching made by the scraping of the earthworm’s 
bristles in its movements underground, and his sudden rush © 
forward and the dive downward into the grass is usually 
rewarded. You may catch glimpses of a mouth running over © 
with a fringe of grubs or worms and of the yellow soles of 
his toes as he stands on his front end adding to his store, __ 
and you will realize he earns all that he takes from man. 
One young robin was able to adapt itself to unusual 
— eonditions, for Mrs. C. E. Forsyth, a careful observer, wrote - 
recently from southern Oregon a bit of bird knowledge that 
~ geems to be new. ae 
| “Today we were out watching an airplane when my 
92 
