184 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



NOTES ON A FAMILY OF ROBINS. 



By (AKi, L' Kapp. 



They had been looking for a nesting site for some time, but it was 

 not until the latter part of April that a pair of Robins concluded to locate 

 almost under the eaves on the east side of our front porch. 



However this proved to be a bad location. During the period of in- 

 cubation the heat of the sun was not very great, and the female did not 

 suffer much, even though exposed to the full glare of the morning sun 

 every day. But after the young birds had broken the shell, the weather 

 became very warm; it was then that the faithful little mother suffered 

 intensely. 



Had not the winter of which the last traces had disappeared only a 

 few weeks before, been such a severe one, all would have been well. 

 For a peach tree, which had died on account of the severity of the 

 weather, would have afforded them abundance of shelter. I think the 

 birds had counted upon this tree for shelter, or they would hardly have 

 built in such an out of the way place. 



During the entire period of incubation, a little more than two weeks, 

 I never once saw the male bird upon the nest. Several times I saw his 

 mate leave the nest for about a half-hour at a time, but he never relieved 

 her. 



However, every day, always in the evening, I saw him alight in the 

 middle of the lawn with something in his bill. At once his mate flew 

 to him, took whatever it was, swallowed it; and after preening her 

 feathers a bit, flew back to the nest. 



One morning, on the ninth day of May, there were two, and the next 

 four little naked crootures that opened wide their bills in the expectation 

 of food upon the slightest noise near the nest. 



During the time the young birds stayed in the nest, which was just 

 two weeks, the parent birds were kept pretty busy feeding them. The 

 amount of food which a nestful of young Robins consume is incredible. 

 The food upon which they were chiefly fed was fish-worms. 



It was also during these two weeks that the mother bird suffered 

 severly from the heat. Few people credit the wild things with much 

 paternal devotion to their young. But if they had seen the way in 

 which this bird protected her nestlings day after day from the hot rays 

 of the sun, they would change their ideas, I think. 



Day after day I went out at noon and found her half sitting, half 

 standing over them; her wings spread, and the muscles in her throat 

 working fast. But for her constant faithfulness, the young birds must 

 have perished. 



