20 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



A. D. Du Bois refers in his notes to a nest in a cemetery, "about 5 

 feet from the ground, on top of a plain stone base, which supported 

 the sculptured figure of a standing woman." 



Other vagaries in nesting sites are: On a last year's hornet's nest, 

 in a vacated nest of a catbird, on a last year's oriole's nest, on a shelf 

 of rock in a cave, and in an old rotted-out woodpecker's hole in which 

 a mud nest was built. Edward C. Raney (1939) tells of a robin shar- 

 ing a nest with a mourning dove; "the birds shared the duties of incu- 

 bation and * * * the eggs were hatched and the young were fed 

 and brooded for eight days." The two species had shared a nest the 

 previous year. Mr. Bent once found an occupied nest entirely inside 

 an eel trap on Marthas Vineyard, Mass.; the trap was lying on open 

 ground, and the eggs could be plainly seen through the netting (pi. 4). 



Several cases have been reported in the literature where robins have 

 built a series of nests, placed on a row along a beam. 



Edward A. Preble (MS.) points out that the robin, when trees are 

 not available, occasionally builds a nest on low cliffs. In Appendix G, 

 by Seton and Preble, in Seton's "The Arctic Prairies" (1912, p. 405) 

 is this record: "The bird was not common on Pike's Portage, between 

 Great Slave Lake and Artillery Lake, but a deserted nest was seen 

 near Toura Lake, near the summit of the divide, where nearly Barren 

 Ground conditions prevail. There being no trees suitable for nesting, 

 the bird had placed its home in a cranny on the face of a low cliff, 

 where it was protected from the elements." A similar observation 

 was later made near the camp at the "Last Woods" on the east side of 

 Artillery Lake, early in the same year, 1907, when Mr. Preble saw a 

 typical robin's nest, then deserted, on a low cliff, 5 or 6 feet from the 

 ground and at least a mile from the nearest grove of spruces, where 

 several deserted nests were observed in normal situations. 



There are several records of robins building their nests on the 

 ground, but the following is even more remarkable. Craig S. Thorns 

 (1929) says: "The Robin had actually laid its clutch of eggs on the 

 dry leaves beside a bush which was close to the house, as shown in 

 the photograph. There was no sign of a nest, or even of an attempt 

 to make one." 



The nest is built chiefly by the female bird, although her mate aids 

 by bringing in material. Berners B. Kelly (1913) says of a pair which 

 he watched for hours: "On every journey, practically, the female 

 brought larger loads than the male, and twenty-two more of them. 

 The actual shaping of the nest was done entirely by the female, the 

 male usually dropping his load haphazard on the edge of the structure." 



Incubation, too, is performed mainly, if not wholly, by the female, 

 the male meanwhile standing guard. Hervey Brackbill (MS.) states 

 that he observed two pairs of robins marked with colored bands and 



