\o 



The Irish Naturalist. 



much farther north, and to endure even the rigours of a 

 Dakota winter without apparently suffering; but such cases 

 are rare. If the weather be mild, a few Robins are likely to be 

 seen with us during February. However, it is not till the 

 middle of March that they really arrive ; the first warm south 

 wind after the loth of that month is sure to bring them. Where 

 there w^ere no birds the day before, now from every grove of 

 trees can be heard the Robin's cheerful notes, and on every 

 law^n from which the snow has hardly melted, they are busy 

 in the pursuit of the early w^orm. 



In his exquisite description of an American spring, the 

 author of the "Biglow Papers" says:— 



"Then gray hossches'nuts leetle hands unfold 

 Softer'n a baby's be at three days' old; 

 That's Robin-redbreast's almanick; he knows 

 That arter this ther's only blossom-snows; 

 So, choosin' out a handy crotch an' spouse, 

 He goes to plast'rin' his adobe house." 



For the benefit of Irish readers it should be explained that 

 "adobe," is the dried earth of which houses in Mexico and 

 some of the south-western States (where there is a partly 

 Mexican population) are built. Mud, indeed, enters largely 

 into the composition of the Robin's nest. The nest is that 

 of a t3^pical thrush, consisting of the three layers seen in 

 the Blackbird's or Missel-thrush's nest, and it is somewhat 

 between the nest of those two in structure; there are more 

 sticks than in a Blackbird's, and less moss and wool than 

 is usually found in a Missel-thrush's. In building, the 

 rough outer framework is put up first, then the layer of mud 

 is put in, and then the finer lining of roots and grass, 

 much as in the two Irish species already mentioned. The 

 nest is placed in the fork of a tree, or on a horizontal 

 bough, usually at between ten and twenty feet from the 

 groiind; it is better concealed than a Missel-thrush's, being 

 among the thinner branches where there are more leaves. 

 The trees with which the streets of our American cities are 

 lined are favourite breeding-places for these birds, and it is 

 thus common in our streets through the summer. On a July 

 evening, after the first brood of young had left their nests, I 

 once counted twenty-seven Robins on a single tennis-court 

 which was quite surrounded by houses. 



