HOW THE ROBIN GETS HIS WORM. 



The robin is the one bird among those which most frequent 

 our lawns and gardens that makes a practice of eating earth- 

 worms. One of our most familiar sights is to see him go trot- 

 ting over the lawn, apparently stamping harder than he needs 

 to as he comes down heavily on his hind toes — " heels," I had 

 almost said, forgetting for a moment where a bird's heel is — 

 as if to wake up the worms, then cocking his black head to listen 

 as they try to crawl back into their burrows. How shrewd he 

 looks ! How capable he is ! How quick in his actions ! He 

 has that worm by the head in an instant. When the worm 

 feels Robin's sharp bill, he tries to crawl back into his hole, 

 and if he is large there is a pretty little tug-of-war to be wit- 

 nessed on the lawn ; but bold Robin sags back and pulls so well 

 that it is seldom a w^orm escapes him when once fairly nipped. 



You may have noticed that Robin is oftenest seen on the 

 lawn in wet weather. When it has been fair for some days 

 he is not there to pull worms. The reason of this is not hard 

 to seek. 



You may remember some morning having seen the neat 

 walks of your garden pierced with little round holes, sur- 

 rounded by piles of dirt, and of being told that these were "worm 

 casts," and that seeing them was always a sign of rain. The 

 earthworm is fond of moisture; he must have it. In dry 

 weather he gets it by burrowing deep, where the ground is still 

 cool and damp ; but in wet weather he comes to the surface 

 and perhaps crawls about on the top of the ground. We say 

 sometimes, when we see the angleworms on the concrete walks 



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