EASTERN ROBIN 29 



to the underparts in contrast to the long, straight line of the back and 

 tail. The wings, at the end of a stroke, are not clapped close to the 

 sides, as in the flight of a blackbird or woodpecker. The robin never- 

 theless accomplishes a full stroke by flipping the tips of the wings well 

 backward so that, at the end of the stroke, the primary feathers of 

 each side are nearly parallel, while the wrist remains out a little way 

 from the body. The wings move rapidly and regularly and there is 

 commonly no soaring or sailing. 



A. Dawes DuBois (MS.) sends a note to Mr. Bent describing 

 fearless behavior of the robin. He says: "The robins that nested 

 on my rain pipe became almost entirely fearless. When there were 

 well-grown young in the nest, the male, darting from a tree, struck me 

 a sharp blow on the forehead when I looked out of my window, and 

 one day, when I was at the window, the female flew into the room and 

 grabbed me by the hair with her claws." He adds: "A nest built in 

 a Virginia-creeper was only about 3 feet from a house wren's nesting 

 box. Sometimes the robins drove the wrens away, but usually there 

 seemed to be no friction between the two species." 



A. C. Bent (MS.) speaks of the robins' sun bath. "Even on the 

 hottest days," he says, "I often see a robin taking a sun bath on my 

 lawn; he crouches on the grass with wings spread, or lies over on one 

 side, with the wing on the sunny side uplifted, so that the sun pene- 

 trates under the fluffed-out feathers of the body. It may remain in 

 this position for several minutes, sometimes for many minutes, as if 

 it enjoyed the warmth of the sun, or derived some hygienic benefit 

 from it. Again in a light, drizzling rain, I have seen them taking 

 rain baths, standing erect for some time, with the bill pointing up- 

 ward, so that the rain washed the plumage and drained off." 



Speaking of territory, Aretas A. Saunders (1938) says: "Robins 

 seem to have territories and to guard them, but they must be small, 

 and probably a large part of the area, where food is found, such as 

 groups of berry-bearing bushes, forms neutral territory. One gets 

 the same impression of neutral territory in this bird, when noting 

 several robins hunting earthworms on a lawn during the nesting season. 

 There seem to be no earthworm hunting tracts here [Allegany State 

 Park], for earthworms are scarce and hard to find. How small the 

 territories are, is shown by finding nests rather close to each other on 

 the school grounds." 



This report is in accord with Hervey BrackbilTs experience. He 

 states (MS.): "The extreme points at which I saw one pair of color- 

 banded robins that nested in a suburban neighborhood of detached 

 houses indicated a territory extending about sixty yards north and 

 south and sixty yards east and west. Other robins nested closely 

 about on all sides. Both adults defended the territory. Of seven 



