An Experience with a Robin 



By MRS J. L. HARRINGTON, Altamont, N. Y. 

 With photographs by the author 



ONE evening just about dusk during the first week in June w^e discovered 

 that our neighbor's cat had a little baby Robin cornered ready to 

 pounce upon it. 

 We took the poor frightened bird and placed it on the barn roof in hopes 

 that the old birds would come and care for it. But it was fast getting dark and 

 they never came. Knowing that the cat would have the little Robin before 

 I would be up in the morning, I fed him and put him in a basket partly filled 

 with hay for the night. 



The next morning I opened the basket and fed him a worm or two and 

 some bread and milk. Then he tried to tuck his head under his little wing and 

 went to sleep. 



After he had had his nap we put him out where the old birds might see and 

 hear him but they did not return. We had to care for him until he was able to 



BOBBY OX ONE OF HIS DAILY MSITS 



look out for himself. He was so young that downy feathers were still in his 

 plumage and there was just a mere beginning of tail feathers. 



My husband built a large airy cage for the little Robin, and we put him 

 out on an upper porch, and he chirped, and ate and slept and grew like any 

 healthy child. 



The first day or two he kept trying to get out but he soon got used to his 

 cage and was apparently happy. He learned to answer to the name Bobby 

 and would chirp back every time we called him. At first he did not know how 

 to pick up his food. He just opened his mouth and let us put the food in it. 

 I would dip my finger in water and he would open his mouth and catch the 



(259) 



