OUR BEST SINGERS 97 



vigorous songster, there is much more we do 

 not know. How long do they live? Where do 

 those particular birds winter that were raised 

 in your dooryard, or in your shade trees? Do 

 the same birds really come back to you and nest 

 in the same spot year after year? Do they 

 retain the same mate? What do they say to 

 each other in all the varied conversations they 

 carry on? These and many other interesting 

 queries about this common bird remain to be 

 answered by bird students. Is this not an inter- 

 esting field for investigation? 



Robin is perhaps the most common bird about 

 the homes of men. In the shade trees and parks 

 of the city, about the village streets, in the door- 

 yard of the farmhouse, in field and pasture, 

 along the bushy banks of the river, in second 

 growth, in fact nearly everywhere in the open, 

 rarely in the dense forests, this sturdy house- 

 holder is found during the nesting season. But 

 in the fall after the last brood is well grown, 

 they flock and often retire to the woods and less 

 frequented localities where they become shy 

 and rather restless wanderers. 



W^hile the nest is always the same rough struc- 

 ture of mud and grass, the nesting site varies 

 according to circumstances. In city streets and 

 parks it is placed on a limb often thirty or forty 

 feet high. About the farm it may be in a low bush 

 or tree, only a few feet above the ground; or 

 perchance, under the roof of the porch, or over 

 a window cap. In fact it may be found in any 

 convenient location, regardless of its exposed 

 position, for the bird has very little idea of con- 



