8 BIRD WORLD. 



to let go, and after some hard pounding by Robin's 

 sharp bill, it is carried off to the nest for the little 

 ones, or gulped down by Robin himself. 



Mr. James Russell Lowell calls the Robin's nest 

 " an adobe house." Perhaps some of you have read 

 how people in Colorado build houses of dried clay, 

 which bakes in the sun. This is called adobe, and 

 both the Robin and the Swallow know how to build 

 in this fashion. 



Four eggs of " robin's ^^^ blue," laid early in May, 

 hatch into very ugly and very hungry youngsters. 

 Their big yellow mouths are opened w^ide whenever 

 the mother or father comes near. These parents are 

 kept busy all day and every day for a fortnight till the 

 young birds grow big, till feathers cover their naked 

 little bodies, and one of them steps to the edge of the 

 mud nest and looks out. 



This is an anxious time for the parents. Soon the 

 boldest youngster tries his wings and makes for a 

 neighboring twig. If he misses it and flutters down 

 to the ground, the parents fly back and forth, making 

 a great outcry which collects many other birds. If 

 no cat comes prowling about, the little one tries again 

 and perhaps gets safely off, but often a bunch of gray 

 feathers tells the sad story of his short life. 



When the young birds who escape all the dangers 

 from cats and hawks, are strong enough to find food 



