THE AMERICAN ROBIN. 



** Come, sweetest of the feathered throng^/' 



UR American Robin must 

 not be confounded with the 

 English Robin Redbreast, 

 although both bear the same 

 name. It is the latter bird in whose 

 praise so much has been written in fable 

 and song. The American Robin be- 

 longs to the Thrush family; the Mock- 

 ing bird, Cat-bird and Brown Thrush, or 

 Thrasher, being other familiar chil- 

 dren. In this family, bird organization 

 reaches its highest development. This 

 bird is larger than his English cousin 

 the Redbreast and many think has a 

 finer note than any other of the Thrush 

 family. 



The Robin courts the society of man, 

 following close upon the plow and the 

 spade and often becoming quite tame 

 and domestic. It feeds for a month or 

 two on strawberries and cherries, but 

 generally on worms and insects picked 

 out of the ground. It destroys the 

 larvae of many insects in the soil and 

 is a positive blessing to man, designed 

 by the Creator for ornament and 

 pleasure, and use in protecting vegeta- 

 tion. John Burroughs, the bird lover, 

 says it is the most .native and demo- 

 cratic of our birds. 



It is widely diffused over the country, 

 migrating to milder climates in the 

 Winter. We have hiard him in the 

 early dawn on Nantucket Island wel- 

 coming the coming day, in the valleys 

 of the Great and the Little Miami, in 

 the parks of Chicago, and on the plains 

 of Kansas, his song ever cheering and 

 friendly. It is one of the earliest her- 

 alds of Spring, coming as early as 

 March or April, and is one of the latest 

 birds to leave us in Autumn. Its 

 song is a welcome prelude to the gen- 

 eral concert of Summer. 



" When Robin Redbreast sings, 

 We think on budding Springs." 



The Robin is not one of our most 

 channing songsters, yet its carol is 

 sweet, hearty and melodious. Its prin- 

 cipal song is in the morning before 

 sunrise, when it mounts the top of 

 some tall tree, and with its wonderful 

 power of song, announces the coming 

 of day. When educated, it imitates 

 the sounds of various birds, and even 

 sings tunes. It must be amusing to 

 hear it pipe out so solemn a strain as 

 Old Hundred. 



It has no remarkable habits. It 

 shows considerable courage and 

 anxiety for its young, and is a pattern 

 of propriety when keeping house and 

 concerned with the care of its off- 

 spring. Two broods are often reared 

 out of the same nest. In the Fall 

 these birds become restless and 

 wandering, often congregating in large 

 flocks, when, being quite fat, they are 

 much esteemed as food. 



The Robin's nest is sometimes built 

 in a corner of the porch, but oftener it 

 is saddled on the horizontal limb ol 

 an orchard tree. It is so large and 

 poorly concealed that any boy can 

 find it, yet it is seldom molested. The 

 Robin is not a skillful architect. The 

 masonry of its nest is rough and the 

 material course, being composed 

 largely of leaves or old grass, cemented 

 with mud. The eggs number four to 

 six and are greenish blue in color. 



An observer tells the following story 

 of this domestic favorite: 



" For the last three years a Robin 

 has nested on a projecting pillar that 

 supports the front piazza. In the 

 Spring of the first year she built her 

 nest on the top of the pillar — a rude 

 affair — it was probably her first effort. 

 The same season she made her second 

 nest in the forks of an Oak, which 

 took her only a few hours to complete. 



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