170 Sketches of Some Cojiimon Birds. 



tinkling its silver bell, while a woman was hanging out 

 her washing not twenty feet from the apparently in- 

 different performer. The northeastern quarter of the 

 little city referred to has been transformed into the sem- 

 blance of a deeply-shaded grove by the trees of the streets 

 and yards, and there the birds are heard and seen in 

 numbers, living and brooding undisturbed. Vireos, rose- 

 breasted grosbeaks, and other species are as noticeable as 

 in their wildwood resorts, and an ornithologist who wishes 

 to study the birds in urban environments will find them 

 there in abundance. It is well known that the crested 

 flycatcher, naturally a resident of the densest woods, is 

 not averse to town life, and is gradually increasing in 

 numbers in the centers of civilization, where the con- 

 ditions are favorable. 



Some of the birds, however, have ever been the com- 

 panions of man, and whether in town or country, have 

 dwelt in our dooryards when others have at first shunned 

 our presence. There are several species which even in- 

 different persons know ; for the very familiarity of such 

 birds obtrudes them upon our notice, whether or not we 

 care for them. Who can remember the time when he did 

 not know the robin, or the catbird, or the wren, or the 

 bluebird? They seem to have been our intimates from 

 our earliest years, and among them the robin is certainly 

 first in familiarity and prominence. 



THE EOBIN. 



The robin requires no formal introduction to the vast 

 majority of American boys and girls. Throughout north- 

 ern and eastern North America his early arrival after the 

 breaking of winter, his musical morning carols and loud 

 evening squeakings, his frequent foraging in garden and 

 lawn, his entire confidence in man, as shown by his nest- 

 ing almost within arm's reach of the door or window, his 

 royal seizure of every sort of ripening fruit — all serve to 

 bring him before our notice. He is beyond doubt the 

 best known and the most typical American songster. 



