EASTERN ROBIN 17 



element of true courtship. He says: "In the latter half of April we 

 pass through what I call the 'robin racket' — trains of three or four 

 birds rushing pell-mell over the lawn and fetching up in a tree or bush, 

 or occasionally upon the ground, all piping and screaming at the top 

 of their voices, but whether in mirth or anger it is hard to tell. The 

 nucleus of the train is a female. One cannot see that the males in 

 pursuit of her are rivals; it seems rather as if they had united to 

 hustle her out of the place. But somehow the matches are no doubt 

 made and sealed during these mad rushes." 

 Bradford Torrey (1885) speaks of a quieter courtship: 



How gently he approaches his beloved! How carefully he avoids ever coming 

 disrespectfully nearl No sparrow-like screaming, no dancing about, no melo- 

 dramatic gesticulation. If she moves from one side of the tree to the other, or 

 to the tree adjoining, he follows in silence. Yet every movement is a petition, 

 an assurance that his heart is hers and ever must be. * * * On one occasion, 

 at least, I saw him holding himself absolutely motionless, in a horizontal posture, 

 staring at his sweetheart as if he would charm her with his gaze, and emitting all 

 the while a subdued hissing sound. The significance of this conduct I do not 

 profess to have understood; it ended with his suddenly darting at the female, 

 who took wing and was pursued. 



It is not uncommon to hear a robin give this hissing note when it is, 

 apparently, alone — standing motionless, as Torrey says, and with its 

 bill pointing slightly upward and the tail expanded. Sometimes, 

 also, a male will utter the hissing sound in phrases much like his song, 

 suggested by the whispered syllables hissilly, hissilly. I heard the 

 note once, given in this form when the bird was on the wing. 



Audubon (1841) describes what is evidently the culmination of 

 courtship: "During the pairing season, the male pays his addresses to 

 the female of his choice frequently on the ground, and with a fervour 

 evincing the strongest attachment. I have often seen him, at the 

 earliest dawn of a May morning, strutting around her with all the 

 pomposity of a pigeon. Sometimes along a space of ten or twelve 

 yards, he is seen with his tail fully spread, his wings shaking, and his 

 throat inflated, running over the grass and brushing it, as it were, 

 until he has neared his mate, when he moves round her several times 

 without once rising from the ground. She then receives his caresses." 



Nesting. — The robin's nest appears as a rather large heap of coarse 

 materials. It is rough on the outside, even unkempt sometimes, 

 because many of the loose ends of grass stalks, twigs, and bits of 

 string or cloth of which the nest is made are not tucked in or neatly 

 woven into the body of the nest, but protrude or hang down from the 

 outer wall. At the top is a deep depression like a round, smooth cup 

 formed by a thick layer of mud, which extends upward to a firm rim, 

 the cup being lined with a little fine, dry grass. 



T. Gilbert Pearson (19 10) [describes thus the structure of a nest 



