Notes from Field and Study 



157 



ing. It is likely that the pair had brought 

 up a first brood somewhere near in 

 June. 



Very soon after the young were on the 

 wing from their home in the woodbine, 

 we perceived that the mother was again 

 occupying her nest, and our continued 

 observation showed that she laid a second 

 set of eggs in it and brought up a second 

 brood, which got on the wing in August. 

 The impression conveyed at the time was 

 that she had found such full satisfaction 

 and contentment in hef chosen site that 

 she was drawn back to it for her next 

 nesting. 



When we returned to the cottage on 

 June I of the following summer, 191 7, we 

 discovered that a Robin had built the 

 nest for her first brood on a horizontal 

 beam of the covered piazza on the south- 

 east side of the house, placing it snugly 

 up in the corner where the beam joins the 

 house. So little did this mother Robin 

 give heed to our movements, and so little 

 did we hear any loud cries of alarm during 

 the entire nesting, that we felt quite sure 

 that our woodbine-nesting Robin of the 

 previous summer was again with us, and 

 that she had again made choice of a well- 

 protected site, this time under the roof of 

 the piazza, thereby showing the same dis- 

 cretion which had guided her the pre- 

 vious season. At this time the woodbine 

 had not yet put forth its leaves. The 

 last year's nest, however, was still rest- 

 ing securely in the vine, but was fully 

 exposed to view. Two birdlings were 

 raised, and these left the nest on June 16. 

 Ten days later we perceived that the Robin 

 was again occupying her nest on the piazza 

 beam without having made any attempt 

 to reconstruct it or build anew. Again 

 it was apparent that she liked this chosen 

 location so well that she at once returned 

 to it for her second nesting, as soon as 

 slu- 1i;h1 sufliciently cared for the first 

 brood, thus showing an indisposition to 

 choose some other location. This second 

 nesting proceeded successfully. On July 7 

 there were three young which the parent 

 birds were feeding, and on the 20th, towards 

 evening, the birdlings left the nest, or, 



rather, one was seen taking short flights 

 about the piazza and the other two seemed 

 ready to use their wings. But we were 

 apprehensive the next morning whether 

 these two had gotten safely away, since 

 we found the nest had been pulled from its 

 place by some agency we could not with 

 certainty determine, and lay empty and 

 broken upon the floor. We kept no cat, and 

 there was but one, to our knowledge, in 

 the immediate neighborhood. This one 

 may Jiave been the culprit. With our 

 hope that the birdlings had already safely 

 flown before this catastrophe came was 

 united a regret that the nest had been de- 

 stroyed, for we felt it would have been very 

 interesting to learn whether this Robin was 

 of so constant a nature in her satisfaction 

 with a well-chosen site that she would 

 retain it for a third nesting. The oppor- 

 tunity for this test was lost. 



But there came, perhaps, the better 

 proof of her constancy when, six days 

 later, we perceived that the old nest in the 

 woodbine on the front of the house was 

 again in use. There was no remaining 

 question with us now. Our piazza-nest- 

 ing Robin, which manifested her tenacity 

 to a location there by twice using the same 

 nest for two broods, was indeed the wood- 

 bine-nesting Robin of 19 16 which had used 

 the same nest for two successive nestings 

 in the vine. She had now returned to her 

 first well-chosen site, to her old nest, still 

 in a full degree of preservation, and at this 

 time well screened from view by the 

 thick leafage of the vine, for her third 

 nesting of the season. Three eggs were 

 laid, and three birdlings were hatched and 

 grew to maturity. They left the nest on 

 August 27. 



Thus we have the interesting fact of a 

 Robin building but two nests for the 

 rearing of five broods in two successive 

 seasons, and during t he second season, after 

 rearing two broods in the same nest, 

 returning to her old nest of the previous 

 year, in which she had then reared two 

 broods, for raising her third brood. Such 

 an example of constancy and conservation 

 is, perhaps, rare. In this instance it was 

 doubtless due first to her good judg- 



