l sorts of
insects, that they do not care for crumbs when they can have nice fat
worms.

"We sometimes feed berries and cherries to our babies. We older birds
often eat fruit, but really we like worms and bugs better."

"The robins ate all the cherries from the top of our cherry-tree last
year," said Phyllis.

"Yes, we did eat some of your cherries," admitted the robin. "They
were very sweet and juicy.

"There are people who say that we robins are a nuisance, and that we
destroy so much fruit that they wish we would never come near them.
The fact is, we do more good than harm to your orchards and berry
patches. Just think how many insects we destroy! If it were not for
us I think much more fruit would be destroyed by insects. And worms
and caterpillars would be crawling everywhere.

"A robin is a very greedy fellow. He eats nearly all the time. I
could not begin to tell you how many insects I have eaten during my
life.

"There are cutworms, too, which live underground. During the night
they come out for food. We robins are early risers, and often catch
the slow worms before they can get back to their underground homes."

"Ah," laughed Phyllis, "that must be the reason that we say that the
early bird catches the worm."

"When our babies come," said the robin, "we are very busy, indeed.
Those young mouths seem always to be open, begging for more food.

"My mother says that when I was a baby robin she was kept busy all day
long.

"There were four baby birds in the nest. I myself ate about seventy
worms in a day. My brother and sisters had as good appetites as I."

"Will you build here in the apple-tree?" asked Phyllis. "I should so
like to watch you. Besides, there is a garden just beneath with
millions of bugs and insects there."

"Oh, yes," replied the robin. "We shall surely build there. You will
find that robins like to build near your home. We have a very friendly
feeling towards people. That is the reason that we hop about your lawn
so much and that we waken you by singing near your window in the early
morning."

"I have heard that robins are not very good nest-builders," said
Phyllis. "I was told that a great number of robins' nests were blown
down by every hard storm."

"More are destroyed than I like to think about," said the robin. "But
my father and mother raised three families of birds in their nest last
season.

"Early in the spring they were very busy about their nest-b