82 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



purpose, his estimate of space was wrong. In- 

 stead of passing between the rails, as birds do 

 constantly in flight, he struck with full force, and 

 fell on the grass of the wayside, lying motionless. 

 I hurried to him, picked him up, and examined his 

 beak to see that he had not broken it nor his neck. 

 While I was handling him he began to revive and 

 in a few minutes he was able to sit up, so I placed 

 him on the top rail from which he very shortly 

 flew to the clover field. 



In writing of examining this bird's beak to see 

 if it was broken, there comes to my mind the re- 

 membrance of a robin I once noticed in the door- 

 yard in extreme distress. I was unable to capture 

 this bird, but I could distinctly see that he had 

 flown against something, squarely breaking off 

 three fourths of the upper mandible, exposing his 

 tongue, and incapacitating him either for pulling 

 up angleworms, eating fruit, or taking a drink. 

 He was crying pathetically. There is no question 

 but he must have died very soon in much suffering. 



While on the subject of robins, I might record 

 my most unusual experience with these birds in 

 having seen a white one in a flock, when they were 

 massing for fall migration, congregating over some 

 wild grapes on a country fence. This bird was 

 robin in form, uttered robin notes, and was in 

 robin country and company but had every feather 

 on him of a soft dusty tan colour, much like my 

 canaries. 



