THE FOOD OF THE ROBIN, 125 
closely or co persistently as do some other species of birds, e. g., the Pur- 
ple Grackle. While the last spring plowing was in progress I several 
times noticed the behavior of the robins on the plowed ground. They 
were to be seen scattered indiscriminately over the field, and not close 
behind the plow like the crow blackbirds. No white grubs were found 
in the robins shot at this time, although they were moderately plenty in 
the scil. They soon bury themselves in the soil again; hence the fail- 
ure of the robin to find any. 
When the robins first arrive in early spring, they feed in com- 
panies, later separate to pair, and in the fall gradually congregate again. 
The old’ and young do not always remain together. I noticed that 
during the fruit season the robins shot in the Station gardens were in the 
proportion of nine young to one old bird,and that the old birds took 
much more insect food than the young. While the young birds were 
feeding upon raspberries and other garden fruits, the old birds might be 
found more abundantly on newly mown meadows or in woodland. In 
fact two old robins shot in the berry patch had taken no fruit of any 
kind, but were well filled with insect food. No one would naturally sup. 
pose that there were so many robins in a limited locality as appear in the 
cherry orchards and berry patches when the fruit begins to ripen. The 
young remain close by the fruit during the whole season, but the old 
rebins soon set out for other feeding grounds, a3 above indicated, or at 
most come to the fruit for only a small portion of each day. 
Although no stomachs of nestlings were examined, the old birds have 
been several times shot while carrying earth-worms, spiders, caterpillars, 
carabid beetles and moths in their bills. These food matters were evi- 
dently intended to be fed to their young, since robins do not have the 
habit of carrying food about to be eaten by themselves afterwards. In 
the cases just mentioned the insects were but slightly injured. So far as - 
I can judge from observation, the old birds do not carry fruit to the 
young while still in the nest, although they introduce them to it as soon 
as they can fly. One old bird was shot while carrying a caterp llar and 
a moth to its young, but nothing was found in her stomach except rasp- 
berries. 
A general summary of the results obtained may be tabulated as 
follows: 
