[TN-Bird] Early American Robin record (Johnson Co., TN)

From: Alice Loftin / Don Miller <pandion@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: TN-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, butternuts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2009 23:05:56 -0400 (EDT)
August 8, 2009 
The following item from the Johnson City Comet appeared in The Greeneville 
Herald on Thursday, March 20, 1884: 

"Deputy Sheriff Smith, of Johnson county, while sitting in his door one day 
last week, shot and killed, with his rifle, fifty robins from one bush, thirty 
eight of which he shot through the head. A friend of his during the same day 
killed forty from the same bush." 

So . . . (assuming that this account is accurate) what bush might attract 
flocks of robins in March in Johnson County, Tennessee? Privet, an exotic, 
produces berries that a variety of birds will eat, especially if higher-grade 
food is scarce. Had privet arrived in Johnson County by 1884? Does anyone know 
of a source of information on arrival dates of exotic plant species in 
Tennessee or nearby states? What other possibilities are likely food sources? 
Of course, the birds might not have been feeding, in which case any shrub or 
bush is possible. Anyone care to speculate on this? 

Didn't Deputy Sheriff Smith have anything better to do on an early spring day? 
Anyway, now we know who killed cock robin. 

Don Miller 
Greeneville, Greene Co., TN 



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[TN-Bird] Early American Robin record (Johnson Co., TN)

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