The depredations of the robin seem to be 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 credits 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 contrary 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 considerable 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.