14 



THE OOLOGIST 



The American Robin in England. 

 P. G. Howes. 



In the early part of 1908, at just 

 what time I cannot say, a dozen Ameri- 

 can Robins were tal^en to England and 

 kept in a large aviary in a country 

 garden. When breeding time came, 

 the birds nested readily in the aviary 

 but as as congregation is not congen- 

 ial with the family Turdidae, many of 

 the clutches were broken and none 

 were likely to be hatched. When this 

 was discovered, the remaining eggs 

 were carefully removed and deposited 

 in the nests of various English birds 

 of the Thrush family. The experiment 

 worked wonderfully, and at the end of 

 the summer, the dozen American birds 

 were greatly increased in numbers. 



So far, so good. The English sum- 

 mer as breathed in the shade of a 

 beautiful garden proved thoroughly 

 sympathetic with the robins. They 

 fed and bred and flourished without 

 disturbance from their neighbors or 

 surroundings. If they remain, the rob- 

 ins will be a real addition to England 

 and the British will look upon them 

 with even more pleasure than they 

 mark the coming of the first gentle 

 green of their alien tree, the larch. 



The pleasing fact is now to be 

 chronicled that up to December 10th, 

 1908, they have remained. One mi- 

 grating period is over. Many Black- 

 birds (Tundus merula) and thrushes 

 have migrated to France and flocks 

 of other birds have launched them- 

 selvs from the shores of Kent south- 

 wards and eastwards. With almost 

 all birds, congregation precedes mi- 

 gration. The safety of numbers arms 

 them against the peril of the long 

 journey. "The storm of wings". The 

 American birds however have not con- 

 gregated, and they still remain in the 

 garden in twos and threes as if wait- 

 ing for another summer in this new 



nesting haunt, a place of quiet and 

 beauty. 



There is a certain English thrush 

 called the Field-fare (Turdus pilaris), 

 and it is thought by English orni- 

 thologists that the robins may migrate 

 with their cousins in the Spring. I 

 do not believe this, for the strongest 

 instincts drive the birds at nesting 

 time to the nesting home of their 

 parents. The rigour of the English 

 winter is another danger but having 

 seen these birds pass through all kinds 

 of weather in America I am confident 

 that the English winters will not af- 

 fect the success of the experiment. It 

 is a strong likelihood that the Ameri- 

 can robin has now been naturalized 

 into England. 



It was published in an English news- 

 paper not long ago, that as a return 

 experiment, a number of Wood Pig- 

 eons (Columba palumbus), a very com- 

 mon bird in France and England, 

 would soon be sent to America. The 

 Wood Pigeons are shot by the thous- 

 ands in England around Christmas 

 time. It is a favorite sport of the farm- 

 ers to shoot the birds from "caches" 

 within reach of the ground, well baited 

 during the previous week. By the latter 

 part of December, as a rule, a great 

 horde of the Pigeons have migrated 

 from Scandinavia to the midland 

 counties, and in some years, three or 

 four farmers will kill as many as three 

 hundred in a day. It is truly like the 

 old days of the Passenger Pigeon in 

 America. 



Such slaughter is an outrage and dis- 

 gusting to all the better nature of 

 mankind. — Editor. 



From Isle of Pines. 



Some Fall Migration Notes made on 

 the Isle of Pines, Cuba, 1909. 



Aug. 20, First Water-thiMLshes of the 

 season (8-4). 



