General Notes. 103 



morning. Upon my next visit, the clay after, she greeted me again -with 

 hisses and other demonstrations of anger ; and after watching her several t 

 minutes, during which time she kept up her attitude of defiance, I again 

 left her mistress of the situation. The next morning she saluted me 

 as before, but being by this time determined to examine the nest I 

 inserted a stick, at which she advanced, pecking and hissing vigorously. 

 She fought long and well, but might finally prevailed, and she slipped 

 out, as she could have done at any time if so inclined, and flew to a 

 neighboring tree, from which she watched me with much interest and in- 

 dignation. She returned to her nest soon after I had left it. After the 

 rough treatment of this occasion, she would invariably leave the nest at 

 my approach, doubtless hearing my footsteps, as she could not possibly 

 see me. 



Some days after this, I found a pair of these birds building in a low 

 stump which stood in a meadow, but I did not remain in the neighbor- 

 hood long enough to learn the number of eggs or test the courage of the 

 female while incubating. — L. Belding, Marysville, Cat 



Persistency in Nest-building by a Pair op City Robins. — Mr. H. 

 H. Clark of this city has kindly placed at my disposal some very interest- 

 ing observations made by him last season relative to the perseverance dis- 

 played by a pair of Robins (Turdus migratorius) at nest-making under 

 difficulties. A pair of these birds selected for a nesting-site a place in his 

 garden so frequented by cats — the great enemy of town-breeding birds — 

 that it seemed certain the young, if not, indeed, the mother-bird, woidd be 

 destroyed by them if the birds were allowed to build in the place they had 

 chosen. So, in order to avoid the threatened danger to the brood, as well 

 as the pain of witnessing their destruction, Mr. Clark resolved to inter- 

 cept their work, hoping thereby to force them to choose a safer nesting- 

 place. He accordingly pulled down their partly formed nest. The next 

 morning there was a great outcry from the birds over their loss, and 

 no little commotion among the other Robins of the neighborhood. To his 

 surprise the birds immediately set to work to rebuild the nest, aided by 

 several of their sympathizing neighbors, who brought materials faster than 

 the architect seemed able to properly bestow them, so that iu a single 

 morning considerable progress was made with the new structure. The 

 next morning the birds found their nest had been again destroyed. Not a 

 whit discouraged, they resumed their labors, building again in the same 

 spot as before, but this time without help. The nest was now constructed 

 with greater care, being securely fastened by strings passed round the branch 

 on which it rested, which were also carried up and made fast to a limb 

 above. These precautions availed them nothing, for this nest shared the 

 fate of the others. An act begun in a spirit of kindness toward the birds 

 was now continued in the interest of scientific investigation. A fourth 

 time the persistent birds rebuilt their nest at the same spot, with to them 



