112 



made by heavy iron stringers on which are wooden ties for 

 the rails to rest upon. I think that if I were a bird and 

 had determined to build a home in any such place, I should 

 at least have placed it on one of the stringers between the 

 ties wliere it would have had a secure foundation. ]\lrs, 

 Robin, however, jDcrhaps because she wanted more excite - 



Fig. 96. Sometimes ivorms were brought 

 tor the little ones and again mulberries 

 from a nearby tree. 



ment and danger, plastered her nest right against the side 

 of the rails, so that half rested on the lower flange and half 

 on the tie. Cars ran on a half-hour schedule so that every 

 fifteen minutes wheels rumbled over the rails within two 

 inches of the rim of the nest. The strangest part of this 

 nesting was that the nest remained in place and the young 

 were successfully reared. While the Robin was incubating 

 she always left the nest when cars passed over, at least dur- 

 ing the daytime while I was watching ; what she did at night 



