THE ROBIN 



By T. GILBERT PEARSON 



TOe il^attonal ja00oriation of Audubon ^ocittits 



EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 46 



No bird holds so prominent a place in the minds of the American people as 

 the Robin. It is distinctively a companion of man, and wherever his hand has 

 cleared the wilderness the Robin has followed. From Mexico to the Yukon 

 the traveler meets it, and the residents will tell him of its coming and going. It 

 has passed into the literature of the country, and one reads of it in the books of 

 science and of romance. Poets weave its image into their witchery of rhyme, 

 lovers fondly spy upon its wooing, and by the fireside of every household chil- 

 dren lisp its name when stories are told in the twilight. 



Heedless indeed is the ear that does not hearken when the 

 In Spring Robin sings. Loud and clear it calls at dawn, and sweet are the 



childhood memories it brings of fresh green fields swept by 

 gentle winds and apple blossoms filled with dew. 



One spring, a pair built their nest on the limb of a balsam standing beside a 

 much-used walk near my home. In gathering the material for the nest, the 

 greatest care was exercised to work at those hours when there was the least 

 chance of being observed. Thus, the greater part was done in the early morning 

 when few people were astir. Perhaps one reason for this was that the blades of 

 dead grass, twigs, and other nesting material, were then damp and pUable from 

 the dews of night, and were much more easily woven into position than after 

 they had become dry and brittle. Only during the last few days of construction 

 did I detect the birds working in the afternoon. The mud for their nest was 

 found by a Httle pool at the end of a leaky horse-trough. 



On April i8 the nest appeared to be completed, for no more materials were 

 brought. On the 2 2d 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 off 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 de- 

 sire nor check their plans. At seven o'clock, three of them were found sitting 



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