The Robin at Arm's Length 51 



individuals differ in relative lameness and wildness, and how rapidly new habits arc- 

 formed. 



As to the abundance of food on which bird-life depends, some species, like the Robin, 

 would seem to fare equally well in the country, and as to protection, much better. 

 Young Robins have no more persistent and fatal enemy than cats, and every one who 

 has possessed a city yard knows to what extent it is overrun by tommies and tabbies. 

 In the city also one has to reckon with the large floating population of famished 

 vagrants, which the biological laboratory is never able to fully claim. They are also on 

 hand to rake the young broods out of the nests, and pick up the fledglings which arc- 

 frightened off prematurely and drop to the ground. Though forced to build high, city 

 Robins find it impossible to get beyond the reach of some rough-and-ready climbers of 

 whom Jan Steen was a shining example, and were every thomas as fearless and expert in 

 tree-climbing as he, this race of birds would soon be driven out or exterminated. 

 Some Robins used to nest in the very top of a neighboring apple tree, but Jan found 

 them out and watched their actions attentively from day to day. One fine afternoon he 

 decided to bring down the whole brood. He had climbed to the tree top and was claw- 

 ing at the nest, when fortunately his plans and equilibrium were upset in the nick of 

 time by a well-directed missile. 



Although the Robin is one of our most common birds its gregarious habits seem to 

 have attracted little attention until Mr. Brewster's account appeared in 1890. His 

 record for Cambridge, Massachusetts, extends back to 1867. At one roost he esti- 

 mated the number of birds at 25,000 (August 4, 1875). The old males and first 

 broods in spotted plumage compose these assemblages during the second and third weeks 

 of June. By the middle of July the movement becomes more general and by August 

 ist, the roost is made up of young and old of both sexes and of all conditions. Mr. 

 Faxon saw a male after feeding its young fly off to its roost one and one fourth miles away 

 at 7.30 P.M., while the female apparently remained for the night and brooded her young. 



These local associations seem to be based upon the instinct of protection and 

 sociability, and it is important to observe that the old lead the way while the young 

 follow, suggesting, as Mr. Brewster remarks, what usually takes place in the annual 

 migration. 1 



A winter Robin roost, in a swamp of matted reeds, resorted to at night by thousands 

 of birds, has also been described in Missouri. At daybreak the host dispersed in all 

 directions, some going fifty miles to their feeding grounds." 



1 The Auk, vol. vii., October, 1890. O. Widmann ; The Auk, vol. xii., 1805. 



