EASTERN ROBIN 23 



he says: "When I lifted them out of the nest to band them, at the 

 age of 7 or 8 days, they clutched the bottom of the nest so tenaciously 

 with their feet that they pulled? up a bit of the grass lining. Such a 

 grip must be useful in preventing young birds from being tossed out 

 of the nest during storms." 



Schantz (1939) states that one of his broods left the nest 15 and 16 

 days and another 14 days after hatching. This is about the period of 

 nest life that 1 noted in a brood in 1912 (Winsor M. Tyler, 1913): 

 These young birds (a second brood) hatched on June 25, or possibly 

 the day before. On the 25th their mouths were just visible above the 

 rim of the nest. On July 1 they filled the nest level full, and tossed 

 about restlessly, apparently preening their feathers. On July 4 they 

 were feathering out fast ; they reared up in the nest and flapped their 

 wings, in danger it seemed of falling. On July 7 they were so large 

 that in moving about they overflowed the nest, and one of them stood 

 on a branch of the crotch and moved back and forth between it and 

 the nest, using its wings to steady itself. On July 8 three of the birds, 

 and perhaps the fourth, left the nest. 



James Russell Lowell says in his Bigelow Papers that the robins 

 settle down to nesting about the time when the leaves of the horse- 

 chestnut tree begin to unfold. In a normal year we notice this phe- 

 nomenon in eastern Massachusetts, where Lowell lived, toward the 

 close of April, so, allowing two weeks for the incubation of the eggs, 

 and two weeks more for their life as nestlings, the young birds are 

 ready to fly in early June. At this time a day comes when all the 

 robins in the neighborhood appear to be in the highest pitch of excite- 

 ment; young birds are blundering about on the ground, and their par- 

 ents seem distracted for their safety. We also hear a new note on 

 this day, a queer, loud, exclamatory seech-ook, which leads us to where 

 the young robins are squatting on the grass, waiting to be fed — plump, 

 innocent-looking birds with spotted breasts and stumpy tails, staring 

 up at the sky with little sign of fear, a choice morsel for the house cat. 



They soon become wary, however, and before long are able to avoid 

 attack by running swiftly away, or by flying out of reach. The male 

 parents now take full charge of the broods, and as they scud over the 

 grass plots in search of earthworms, the little birds follow them about 

 expectantly, waiting for them to pull out the worms, shake them, and 

 thrust them into their throats. The fledglings rapidly acquire the 

 manner of adult birds. In a few days they throw off the crouching 

 attitude of the nestling and assume the erect, proud bearing of adult 

 birds, and in less than two weeks are able, but not always willing, to 

 find food for themselves. The male parent is thus free to aid in the 

 care of the next brood, which is almost ready to hatch. 



