30 BULLETIN 196, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



defences which I saw, the male made five and the female two. Strange 

 robins, both adult and immature, were the object of attack five times, 

 a blue jay once, and a gray squirrel once." 



There are three records, W. A. Marshall (1921), F. G. Mcintosh 

 (1922), and Harry F. Binger (1932), each describing a robin's capture 

 of a small snake, presumably as food for its young. 



Robins not infrequently attack their own images reflected in a 

 windowpane, sometimes returning to the attack for days. J. A. Allen 

 (1879) reports a yellow warbler acting in the same manner, but most 

 of the records of this habit refer to the robin, probably because it is 

 the most conspicuous bird of a belligerent nature which breeds about 

 our houses. 



J. W. Lippincott (1912) speaks of robins feeding on the ocean beach. 

 He says: "On August 20, 1912, a number of unusually large, dark- 

 colored birds could be seen running along the beach [at Watch Hill, 

 R. I.], which, upon closer inspection, proved to be Robins. They 

 did not mingle with the little shore birds, but followed the retreating 

 waves in much the same manner as these, and evidently ate the same 

 food," and Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1905) says that they frequent 

 "the dry parts of the beaches, the sand dunes, and the salt marshes." 



May Thacher Cooke (1937) reports on the age of a bird. A robin, 

 "banded at Philadelphia, Pa., on August 18, 1925, by Dr. William 

 Pepper, was retrapped at the same place on September 25, 1929, and 

 May 5, 1932," and Alexander Wilson (Wilson and Bonaparte, 1832) 

 recounts the following story: "A lady, who resides near Tarry town, 

 on the banks of the Hudson, informed me that she raised and kept 

 one of these birds for seventeen years; which sung as well, and looked 

 as sprightly, at that age as ever; but was at last unfortunately 

 destroyed by a cat." 



Margaret Morse Nice (1933) speaks of a pair of robins "having been 

 mated three years in succession. In 1932 the male arrived February 

 10; in 1933 on January 25th. * * * His mate never comes till 

 March." 



It was not until comparatively recently that the robins' habit of 

 roosting during the breeding season was brought to the attention of 

 ornithologists. The older writers, Wilson, Nuttall, and Audubon, 

 say nothing of the habit. 



In 1890 William Brewster published a comprehensive account of the 

 robin roosts in the neighborhood of Cambridge, Mass., and showed 

 that a large number of the breeding birds in the region gathered every 

 evening at a roost and spent the night there during most of the breeding 

 season. He had been aware of the habit for over 20 years, and he 

 traces the history of several roosts during this period. He says (1890) : 



