100 CITIZEN BIRD 



We hadn't many berries left, so mother said, ' Try if 

 they will eat meal.' I mixed some meal in a pan with 

 hot water and spread it in little puddles on the snow. 

 The Robins acted real mad at first, because it wasn't 

 berries, but after a while one pecked at it and told 

 the others it was all right, and then thirty Robins 

 all sat in a row and ate that meal up, the same as if 

 they were chickens." Here Rap paused and laughed 

 at the thought of the strange sight. 



" Pretty soon after that the snow melted, and by 

 April Robins were building around in our yard, in 

 the maples by the road, and all through this orchard. 

 One day I noticed some little twigs and a splash of 

 mud on our back steps, and when 1 looked up I saw 

 that something was building a nest in the crotch of the 

 old grape vine. ' That's a queer place for a nest,' I 

 said to myself, ' not a leaf on the vine and my window 

 right on top. I wonder what silly bird is doing it.' 



" Flap, and my Robin with the broken feathers came 

 along with his mouth full of sticks ; but when he saw 

 me he dropped them and went over on the clothes-pole, 

 and called and scolded like everything. Then I went 

 up to my window and looked through the blind slats. 

 Next day the nest was done. It wasn't a pretty nest 

 — Robins' never are. They are heavy and lumpy, and 

 often fall off the branches when a long rain wets them. 

 This one seemed quite comfortable inside, and was 

 lined with soft grass. 



" Mrs. Robin looked like her husband, but I could 

 tell the difference ; for she didn't sit in the pines and 

 sing, and her breast wasn't so red. When the nest 

 was done, she laid a beautiful ^gg every day until there 



