174 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



April. In 1883 I remarked a pair of robins at worls 

 founding a home in a large maple in town, as early 

 as March 19th. The two following days brought rain and 

 sleet, and the work was interrupted. On the 22d, which 

 was clear and warm, they resumed operations. By the 

 26th the nest was finished and the female had commenced 

 laying, having spent the two preceding days in the nest. 

 On March 28th I climbed to the nest, which was set in a 

 crotch in the main trunk about twenty feet from the 

 ground. I found in the nest four eggs. No other robins 

 were building in the neighborhood, nor did nidification 

 begin with others that year thereabout until April 5th. 

 Ordinarily the nest is situated on a horizontal branch 

 where forking boughs furnish a base of support, or it is 

 Bet in an upright crotch at varying distances from the 

 ground. I have found nests in osage orange hedges below 

 three feet from the ground, needlessly exposed to the visits 

 of snakes and mice. Occasionally I find a nest made upon 

 the end of a rail outside the angle of a worm fence, pro- 

 tected by a rail behind and another rail above the nest. 



The foundation of the nest consists of dried grass, with 

 which are often mingled rags, and string either loosely 

 bunched or wound among the parts of the foundation or 

 hanging from some part of the nest. Upon this the mud 

 walls are raised, made about one-fourth of an inch thick, 

 with more or less dried grass upon their exterior surface. 

 The smooth bottom of the nest contains a scant bedding 

 of the same grassy material. Both birds work at the 

 structure. The female, however, carries most of the 

 heavier materials and personally attends to the disposition 

 of all the various fabrics worked into the structure. The 

 male aids by fetching a few lighter bundles and singing 

 his cheery carols. The walls are carefully rounded up by 

 the female, who moulds them smoothly with her breast. 

 If the bird lover is fortunate enough to see her using her 

 faded red apron as a trowel, he can understand why she 

 wears a dress less showy than her mate. Is she not sen- 

 sible in thus donning her ruddy apron as she plies her 

 plasterer's art? Having disposed of her bill-full of mud 

 upon the wall in the desired place, she drops upon her 

 knees on the floor of her hovel, and moving her breast 



