On April 18 the nest appeared to be completed, for no more materials were 

 brought. On the 22nd the female began sitting. I could see her tail extending 

 over one side of the nest, her bill pointing upward at a sharp angle from the 

 other. She flew ofif the first day when the half-hundred boys who frequented the 

 walk came along on their way to dinner. But she soon became accustomed to 

 them, and would sit quietly, although numerous heads passed within five or six 

 feet. No one disturbed the nest with its four blue eggs, and on May 6 I saw 

 her feeding the young. Four days after this event, I noticed the heads of the 

 younglings bobbing above the rim of the nest. They were gaining strength 

 rapidly. 



The morning of May 17 was cool, and a drizzling rain had been falling for 

 some hours. This dreary morning happened to come on the day when the young 

 robins desired to leave the nest. Rain could neither dampen their desire nor check 

 their plans. At seven o'clock, three of them were found sitting motionless, a 

 foot or more from the nest, on the limb which held it. Each had gathered itself 

 into as small a space as possible, and, with head drawn close, seemed waiting for 

 something to happen. But their eyes were bright, as they looked out over the 

 vast expanse of the lawn before them — that trackless region, to explore which 

 they dared not yet trust their strength. The fourth one could not be found. The 

 next day two others disappeared, after spending some hours of joyous, happy 

 life on the grass and in the shrubbery. I strongly suspected the academy cat 

 knew where they had gone. 



Knowing that the family would never return to the nest, I removed it from 

 the limb, for I wanted to see how the wonderful structure was put together. 

 In its building, a framework of slender balsam twigs had first been used. There 

 were sixty-three of these, some of which were as much as a foot in length. In- 

 tertwined with these were twenty fragments of weed stalks and grass stems. 

 The yellow clay cup, which came next inside, varied in thickness from a quarter 

 of an inch at the rim to an inch at the bottom. Grass worked in with the clay 

 while it was yet soft aided in holding it together, and now, last of all, came the 

 smooth, dry carpet of fine grass. The whole structure measured eight inches 

 across he top; inside it was three inches in width, and one and a half deep. It 

 was one of those wonderful objects which is made for a purpose and it had 

 served that purpose well. 



It is good to watch the robins when a tt)uch of autumn is in the air and the 

 wander-lust is strong upon them. On rajiidl) beating wings they drive swiftly 

 across the fields, or pause on the topmost sjjray of a roadside tree and look eagerly 

 away to the southward. Their calls are sharp and inf|uisitive. Clearly the un- 

 suppressed excitement of starting on a long journt.) pervade^ their nature. In a 

 little while they will be gone. 



Later you may find them in their winlrr home, feeding on the black gum 

 trees in a Carolina swamp, thr berries of the China tree in Georgia, or the fruit 



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