354 



Bird -Lore 



shot at them, for the whole neighborhood 

 was too much interested in observing 

 them. The oldest settler of the community 

 did not remember any such Robin winter 

 colony, and man}- were the theories ad- 

 vanced to account for the unusual phe- 

 nomenon. As the winter wore away, they 

 seemed to grow fatter, and their coats 

 took on a brighter color. 



They stayed here till spring. April 20, 

 we had a deep spring snow-storm, which 

 did not hurt any of the tender green 

 already spread over woods and hills. 

 After that they scattered rapidly, their 

 primal instinct beginning to assert itself. 

 Gradually fewer and fewer came home to 

 the cedars at night, until, at the time 

 when birds usually mate, none remained. 

 The Robins which finally built their nests 

 in those woods were from an entirely 

 dififerent colony. 



Of the many theories advanced to 

 account for the location of the colony, 

 the following was the most plausible: 

 The Robins came from the extreme 

 northern limits where they summer and 

 nest. In their southern flight they found 

 this place, and some stopped for a few 

 days. The shelter of the cedars proved 

 to be so good that they were joined by 

 more and more birds, till the colony took 

 on the proportion it had attained at the 

 time when we first observed it. In their 

 excursions westward for food, the birds 

 found such an abundance that there 

 seemed to be no scarcity from day to 

 day. It may have been possible that some 

 subtle instinct told them this would be 

 an open winter, or it may have been that 

 they simply drifted along and stayed from 

 one day to the next, because shelter, food, 

 and water were adequate. — Edith C. M. 

 BR.A.XDEIS, San Diego, Cat. 



Robins on an Ocean Beach 



The unbroken sweep of the Atlantic 

 Ocean upon the beach at Watch Hill, 

 R. I., causes it to be a favorite resting- 

 place, in migrating time, of Turnstone, 

 Plover, Semipalmated and Least Sand- 

 pipers, and various sea birds, which find 



considerable food among the sea plants 

 washed up by the surf. On August 20, 

 igi2, a number of unusually large, dark- 

 colored birds could be seen running along 

 the beach, which, upon closer inspection, 

 proved to be Robins. They did not 

 mingle with the little shore birds, but 

 followed the retreating waves in much the 

 same manner as these, and evidentl}^ ate 

 the same food. 



The Robins looked very much out of 

 place on the wet sand, but seemed abso- 

 lutely at home there. Owing to the 

 number that could be seen at one time, 

 it was evident that they came from a 

 migrating flock. — J. W. Lippincott, 

 Bethayres, Pa. 



Kingbirds Eating Sassafras Berries 



Is it commonh' known that the King- 

 birds are fond of the fruit of the sassafras? 

 There is a sassafras tree near the entrance 

 gate at m}' country-place at Stamford, 

 Connecticut, which bears a heavy crop 

 of fruit every year, and about the last of 

 August the Kingbirds gather in numbers, 

 spending the entire day in the tree, and 

 strip it entirely of its fruit. This seems 

 an unusual taste for a bird so highly 

 insectivorous as the Kingbird, and the 

 sassafras fruit is not delectable from our 

 standpoint. At the time when they are 

 gorging themselves with sassafras berries, 

 they seem to devote little time to catching 

 insects, and when flying out of the tree 

 on our approach they immediately return. 

 For several years I have noted that the 

 Kingbirds were stripping this tree com- 

 pletely of its fruit, although I have allowed 

 it to remain partly for decorative pur- 

 poses when it is brilliant with berries. I 

 have not observed any other birds in the 

 tree; in fact, I believe that the Kingbirds 

 would not allow other birds to visit it. 

 — Robert T. Morris, New York City. 



Goldfinches in Massachusetts 



In the May-June number of Bird-Lore 

 I saw a request for information regarding 

 the increase of Goldfinches. The past 



