HABITS OF THE ROBIN 13 



search for the worms and grubs that, later in the season, would 

 prove invincible to the agriculturist, were not their ravages 

 thus sta^'ed in advance by the friendly army of Robins. 



It is a matter of congratulation that the good services of the 

 Eobin are becoming duly appreciated — thanks to the timely 

 and judicious interference in its behalf on the part of many of 

 its friends; among whom no one, perhaps, deserves higher 

 praise for his active and successful exertions than Dr. Thomas 

 M. Brewer, of Boston. The bird is now very generally pro- 

 tected by legislative enactments, during a portion of the year 

 at least ; it is to be hoped that the laws may be made still more 

 stringent, and the " close" time become co-extensive with the 

 year itself. As an object of " sport," the Robin can possess no 

 attractions save to idle children of larger or smaller growth ; 

 while its commercial value, as an article of food, is wholly in- 

 considerable. There are, therefore, weighty and cogent reasons 

 why the Robin should be protected by law at all seasons ; for 

 there would rarely if ever be difdculty in gaining permission, 

 upon proper representation, to destroy the very few that might 

 be required for scientific purposes, or to please the capricious 

 palate of au invalid. 



There is little need to pursue the history of the Robin to the 

 details of the bird's daily life ; upon such points the children 

 are competent ornithologists; and those of us who may have 

 forgotten our early experiences need only look out of the 

 window at the right time. A word of record respecting the 

 nest, may, however, not be out of place. This is one of the 

 most conspicuous pieces of bird-architecture about the home- 

 stead — the Kingbird's, the Oriole's, and the various Swallows' 

 nests alone approaching it in this respect. The horizontal 

 bough of au orchard tree, not far from the ground, is a favor- 

 ite situation ; though the Robin is not very particular, and 

 will sometimes build, like the Pewit Flycatcher, in odd and 

 unsuspected uooks about an out-building. The nest is too bulky 

 for concealment, and no art is attempted. A mass of the most 

 miscellaneous material, chiefly of vegetable nature, such as 

 leaves, weed-stems, moss, grasses, and rootlets, but sometimes 

 including hair or wool, surrounds a rather neat cuj) of mud, 

 which in turn is lined with finer vegetable fiber. The shape of 

 the nest varies, of course, with the character of the support 

 upon which it rests ; iu size it is about five inches wide, or' 

 deep, with a cavity half as large, the walls and flooring being 



