Family TURDIDy^. Thrushes. 



1. THE ROBIN. 



TURDUS MIGRATORIUS Linn. 



Migratory Thrush; Robin Redbreast. 



The robin is distributed in the breeding season over the whole 

 United States., excepting the extreme south, and over the 

 most of British America. Everywhere it is one of the earliest 

 birds to nestle, and in the southern part of its range raises two 

 or more broods* in a season. In the middle states the robins 

 have paired by April i , and have begun to build their homes 

 before the middle of the month. As far north as Detroit, fresh 

 eggs are to be had the second and third weeks of April in 

 abundance, while even on the upper Missouri and at Puget 

 Sound, the first broods of young are out early in June, and a 

 second brood prepared for. 



The situation of the nest is extremely varied, and little con- 

 cealment seems to be attempted. A fork, or the upper surface 

 of a large limb, in an old orchard tree or garden evergreen, is a 

 favorite site ; but woodland trees, the protruding end of a fence- 

 rail, the top of a pillar, a stinnp, the ground or a ledge of' 

 rocks, the interior of a well, the ribs of a fossil megatherium 

 in a college cabinet, the broken-out hole of a woodpecker or 

 squirrel, or even a bush in the midst of a colony of noisy black- 

 birds, have all been frequently occupied. Occasionally they 

 will build in companies, as in a case at Danvers, Mass., where 

 fully a dozen pairs built their nests on the plate which supported 

 the rafters of a kiln-house. 



