THiSROBIN. 68 



»re all the different species ot thrushes we have^ but the 

 one we are now describing, being more unsettled, ind con- 

 tinually roving about from one region to another, during 

 fall and winter, seems particularly entitled to the appella- 

 tion. Scarce a winter passes but innumerable thousands of 

 them are seen in the lower parts of the whole Atlantic 

 states, from New Hampshire to Carolina, particularly in 

 the neighbourhood of our towns; and, from the circum- 

 stance of their leaving, during that season, the country to 

 the north-west of the great range of the Alleghany, from 

 Maryland northward, it would appear that they not only 

 migrate from north to south, but from west to east, to avoid 

 the deep snows that generally prevail on these high regions 

 for at least four months in the year. 



The Robin builds a large nest, often on an apple-tree, 

 plasters it in the inside with mud, and lines it with hay or 

 fine grass. The female lays five eggs, of a beautiful sea- 

 green. Their principal food is berries, worms, and cater- 

 pillars. Of the first he prefers those of the sour gum. 

 So fond are they of gum-berries, that, wherever there 

 is one of these trees covered with fruit, and flocks of 

 Robins in the neighbourhood, the sportsman need only 

 take his stand near it, load, take aim, and fire ; one flock 

 succeeding another, with little interruption, almost the 

 whole day : by this method, prodigious slaughter has been 

 made among them with little fatigue. When berries fail, 

 they disperse themselves over the fields, and along tlui 



