nest until their wings are strong and full feathered. Robins have not the same 

 excellent control over their babies. The young robin, like the young crow of 

 the children's story, gets restless and wants to see the world at a time when the 

 only journey it can make is a high and lofty tumble from the nest to the ground 

 You may pick up a young robin, put it back in the nest, and you will be called 

 upon within five minutes to repeat the operation. The distress of the old birds, 

 when a youngster tumbles out, is pitiful. Possibly in the course of a few eons 

 they may discover the secret of parental control. At one time I had under obser- 

 vation five robins' nests and six jays' nests. Five of the jay broods were led 

 forth into the world in safety, while disaster came to four of the robin house- 

 holds. It is curious to note that the pair of robins that succeeded in raising a 

 brood built the nest on a crossbeam between two pillars of a piazza which was 

 frequented by many people all through the day. It was a cat neighborhood. 

 The nest was so placed that Tom and Tabby could not get at it, though they 

 watched it dailv from every vantage point. This pair of robins had more sense 

 than most of the tribe. There were five robin children in the nest. When the 

 time came for them to leave, the male robin took a perch just outside the nest 

 and coaxed the two strongest of the fledgling birds to leave. They stood on the 

 edge of the nest while the father took three or four short flights by way of 

 example. Finally the two little ones launched out together, and with their father 

 at their side they succeeded in making the first flight carry them a distance of 

 fully forty yards. They plumped to the ground pretty hard, but in a minute they 

 recovered, and their father soon urged them to another eft'ort, this time upward 

 to the safe retreat of a heavy foliaged tree. The other three young ones remained 

 in the nest twenty-four hours longer, and were then led forth by the mother. 

 For two weeks the brood remained in the vicinity of the nest, the father caring 

 constantly for the two that he had elected to take in charge, while the mother 

 looked after the other three. I watched the birds constantly, and never saw 

 either of the parents feed a youngster that was under the other's care. There 

 was something strikingly manlike in the male bird's distribution of the labor. He 

 gave his wife the three requiring the most attention and took for his own share 

 the two lusty youngsters. 



One robin's nest which met with disaster was placed on the elbow of a rain- 

 pipe which was supposed to carry the rain-water from the eaves of the Presby- 

 terian Church at Highland Park. The chances are that robins never made a 

 study of rain-water spouts. The experience of the ordinary householder is that 

 water pours out of them at every place excepting where it is intended to pour out. 

 The Presbyterian pipe was no exception to the general rule. When the robins' 

 nest was well completed, "the rain descended and the floods came"; all the water 

 from the eave-trough poured down the pipe to a point about a foot above the 

 nest on the elbow, and then shot out through a hole and washed the little habi- 

 tation with its burden of eggs to the ground below. We all know the poetical 

 tale of the sparrow that built its nest in the spout. We know how the "bloomin' 



445 



