22 



THE OOLOGIST 



decided that "discretion is the best part 

 of valor," and turning up my coat collar 

 I ignominiously fled. As I looked back, 

 the tide of robins seemed in no way 

 diminished. In all I counted 653. 



My next venture, on the 13th of Sep- 

 tember, was of a more successful nature, 

 I being accompanied by a friend and 

 arriving earlier on the spot than on the 

 previous occasion. When we crossed 

 the narrow meadow it was 4:30 o'clock, 

 and the sun had not yet sank, so we had 

 a fine chance for operations. My friend 

 and myself stood side by side to count. 

 At first there were only a few birds 

 which we could see on the horizon, a 

 mile away, coming toward us. Little 

 black dots they looked and on nearing 

 us, they either stopped at the outlying 

 fringe of woods that bounded the mead- 

 ow, or plunged over into the roost, tak- 

 ing, however, great care to give us a 

 wide berth, either swinging to one side 

 or passing over if they were high enough. 

 The greatest numbers came at dusk and 

 as we could only see those on the sky- 

 line and only counting on the south side 

 of the roost, it is safe to say that at least 

 five times the number we counted enter- 

 ed the roost. They made no noise, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, an inquiring pit, pit, as 

 they flew past us. An appreciation of 

 the difficulties of the count can only be 

 experienced by those who have tried it 

 for themselves. On this evening we 

 counted 956 robins all told. 



About September 18, we made another 

 count, but saw only about 720 odd birds. 



It is evident, that most of those of the 

 13th were migrants on their way south, 

 and used the roost as a sort of rendez- 

 vous on their south and northward 

 journeys. 



By September 26, their numbers had 

 decreased to 126, and by October 7, the 

 roost was deserted. 



By comparing these statistics with 

 Mr. Torrey's,it will be readily seen that 

 this roost has apparently increased since 

 1890. Whether this is due to a warmer 



spell of weather in the September of '99, 

 or whether the roost has actually be- 

 come more populous is a matter for con- 

 jecture, sufficient to say that on Sep- 

 tember 13, 1890,Mr. Torrey counted 187 

 robins, while on that same date, 1899, I, 

 with a friend, counted 956, and almost 

 two weeks later, September 26, 1899, I 

 counted almost as many as he did on 

 September 18, 1890, he counting on the 

 13th 137 against my 126 on the 26th. 



This is also true, but not to so marked 

 a degree of the only other roost I know 

 of, namely, that at Belmont, in Middle- 

 sex county. 



It is conceded by all that a love of 

 company or gregariousness is one of 

 this thrush's most prominent character- 

 istics. He is a veritable socialist among 

 birds. Not so much in the sense we 

 use the word, as the word itself implies. 

 He is the burglar among birds, the hon- 

 est steady-going farmer, with his loud 

 and hearty voice, and his cherry waist- 

 coat, which by the way, is not nearly so 

 much in bad taste as some of the appar- 

 el worn by the human species on certain 

 out-door occasions. 



Other songs may charm our ears, 

 other beauties delight our eyes, but we 

 will never desert our steadfast friend, 

 the robin. No! Not even if we own a 

 cherry tree. 



Bird Life in a City Yard. 



When I was a lad one of the pleasures 

 was in observing the birds of our neigh- 

 borhood, and the first annotated list 

 which I began was on those species not- 

 ed in my father's yard in the heart of 

 the village. The list rapidly increased, 

 and now after almost continued obser- 

 vation, covering a period of more than 

 thirty years, it has grown to "the big- 

 ness you see," embracing one hundred 

 and thirty-four species. The list is pre- 

 sented as interesting evidence of what 

 may be accomplished through continued 

 observation. 



