Robin SONG-BIRDS. 



never heard the Nightingale, but those who have, say that 

 it is the surroundings and its continuous night singing that 

 make it even the equal of our Hermit ; for, while the Night- 

 ingales sing in numbers in the moonlit groves, the Hermit 

 tunes his lute sometimes in inaccessible solitudes, and there 

 is something immaterial and immortal about the song. Pres- 

 ently you cease altogether to associate it with a bird, and it 

 inspires a kindred feeling in every one who hears it. 



Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller tells delightfully of her pursuit 

 of the Hermit in northern New York, where it was said to 

 be abundant, but when she looked for him, he had always 

 ** been there " and was gone ; until one day in August she 

 saw the bird and heard the song and exclaims : " This only 

 was lacking. . . . This crowns my summer." ^ 



Among many local names this bird has received, that given 

 by the early settlers in the Adirondack region is the most 

 appropriate j they call it the Swamp Angel. 



American Bobin: Merula migratoria, 



Plate 6. FiOx. 1. 

 Length : 10 inches. 

 Male : Above olive-gray, head black, wings dark brown, tail black 



with white spot on two outer quills. Entire breast brick-red. 



Throat streaked with black and white. White eyelids. Bill 



yellow, dusky at tip ; feet dark. 

 Female : Paler throughout, resembling the autumn plumage of the male. 

 Song : A vigorous interrogative melody, cheerful but somewhat lacking 



in variety. '* Do you think what you do, do you think what 



you do, do you think ? " Call note, " Quick ! Quick ! " 

 Season : Present all the year. The migratory flocks come in March 



and leave in October and early November. 

 Breeds : From Virginia and Kansas northward to the Arctic coast. 

 Nest : On a horizontal branch, in a tree crotch, hedge, or strong vine. 



Made of small sticks, plastered more or less and lined with mud. 

 Eggs : 4, of the peculiar green- blue, known by the name of the bird. 

 Mange: Eastern North America to the Rocky Mountains, including 



eastern Mexico and Alaska. Winters from southern Canada 



and the Northern States (irregularly) southward. 



1 ♦• Little Brothers of the Air." 

 64 



