268 



Bird - Lore 



I wish all bird-lovers might have been privileged to observe the growth of 

 these fledglings and the care bestowed by the parents and foster parents of 

 them. The young birds would take worms from my hands but when I first 

 tried to feed them they appeared afraid and tried to get as near the bottom of 

 the nest as possible. On one occasion I left some worms in a little soil in a box 

 lid close by the nest. The old birds found the worms at once and made a 

 meal on them, but never one of these worms did they give the young. 



It was evident that the young would soon leave the nest for they had begun 



to raise up in the nest and flutter 

 their wings. As this had been such 

 an unusual experience with bird- 

 life for me, I wanted some per- 

 manent record of it. The enclosed 

 pictures are the result. I took 

 them while the birds were being 

 fed, standing not more than four 

 feet from the nest and using the 

 Kodak bulb. 



With all the care exercised and 

 the young almost grown, I was not 

 privileged to see them fly, for on 

 the evening of the same day the 

 pictures were taken, a black shadow 

 stole across the lawn, unseen in the 

 dusk of evening, a commotion 

 arose at the nest in which Mother 

 Robin began a frightened calling, 

 to be joined at once by Cock Robin. 

 I knew a marauder was at work. 

 Quickly as possible I was at the 

 nest, but in the space of one min- 

 ute the nest had been emptied and 

 I found two live Robins on the 

 ground, one the weakling, and 

 three dead ones; the cat had taken 

 Later I saw to it that she paid 



A BUSY ROBIN 



another young one for her evening tidbit 

 the penalty. 



For two nights I kept in my room the young birds that escaped the raider, 

 and put them out in their nest in the morning. It was a pitiful call Mother 

 Robin gave as she perched on the top of her pine tree home the morning after 

 the cat raided her nest. She begun calling where, where as soon as it broke day. 



The weakling of the brood had survived up to this time but now died, 

 leaving but one fledgling out of seven hatched; the lone one to fly away. 



