AMERICAN ROBIN 205 



of the tree above them or across an open 

 space to some neighboring tree. As they 

 are in the Garden before the leafage has 

 appeared, it is easy to find them if rest- 

 ing upon a bough, as they at intervals 

 quietly lift the tail. But commonly they 

 are upon the ground. 



115. American Robin 



Planesiicus migratorius 



The Robin is one of the three established 

 summer residents in the Garden, the others 

 being the bronzed grackle and the Balti- 

 more oriole. Like the grackle, the Robin 

 has become an abundant resident. The 

 records of 1900 show that only three or 

 four pairs of Robins were then nesting 

 within the grounds. The number did not 

 increase in the two years next following. 

 But in 1903 ten pairs were nesting ; in 1904, 

 eighteen pairs; in 1905, twenty pairs; and 

 in 1906, twenty-eight pairs. As in the case 

 of the grackles in 1907, so also the Robins 

 were fewer in number in that year ; twenty 

 pairs, so far as could be ascertained, nested. 



