OF NEW ENGLAND. 41 



(F) MiGRATORius. {American) Robin. 



(An extremely common Summer-resident in Massachusetts, 

 where a few pass tlie winter.) 



(a). 9-10 inches long. Above, dark (olive) gray; head 

 and tail almost black, both with white spots. Breast of a 

 peculiar ruddy red or orange-brown, in pale specimens merely 

 dun-colored. Chin, under tail-coverts, etc., white, more or 

 less black-streaked. Bill generally yellow. 



(6). The Robins build their nests in bushes, vines, the larger 

 garden-shrubs, or most often in trees ; evergreens, particu- 

 larly pines and spruces, being preferred to all others. Where 

 these latter are wanting, they often build their nests in orchard- 

 trees, or in those which shade the streets ; occasionally, how- 

 ever, placing them about some building. The nest is " sad- 

 dled " to a bough or placed in a fork, from three to fifty feet 

 above the ground, and is a very firm though rather rude struc- 

 ture, consisting chiefly of mud, and of dr^^ grass or its equiv- 

 alent. 



The eggs of each set are four or five, delicate greenish bine, 

 and about 1-15 X "80 of an inch. I have found freshly laid 

 eggs of this species from May first until the twentieth of July ; 

 two or even three broods being usually raised, if the parents 

 are undisturbed. 



(c). The Robins are undoubtedly in summer the most abun- 

 dant of all the birds in Massachusetts, and to most country- 

 residents in this State are probably the most familiar ; but in 

 northern New England they are much less common than in 

 most other parts of the eastern states. Dr. Brewer, however, 

 has written that " in the valleys amongst the White Moun- 

 tains, where snow covers the ground from October to June, 

 and Avhere the cold reaches the freezing-point of mercury, 

 flocks of Robins remain during the entire winter, attracted by 

 the abundance of berries." A few certainly spend the winter 

 about us, in the swamps, and also in cedar-woods ; for, though 

 these latter contain but few berries, or none, yet the thick foli- 

 age of many of the trees aff'ords safe shelter from heaA^y 



