84 THE BIRD GROWN UP 
him from any other robin or oriole. And, as I 
said before, no two of a kind sing precisely the 
same song. 
A bird shows his intelligence in many ways. 
One is by the way he acts when he cannot do as 
he is used to doing. A robin I know of wished 
to build a nest, but could not find mud to put 
into it, for it was a very dry time, and there 
were no streams near. Nowa robin’s nest must 
have mud, and the bird seemed puzzled for 
awhile. But at last she thought of a way to 
get it. 
She went to a bathing-dish that the people of 
the house kept filled with water for the birds, 
jumped into it, and got her legs very wet. 
Then she flew to the road, and tramped around 
in the dust and dirt. 
In a short time her legs had a good coating 
of mud, which she carefully picked off with her 
bill, and took to the nest she was building. 
This she did a great many times, and the 
lady who told me of it watched her till she had 
as much mud as she needed. 
A bird often shows sense by the way she 
repairs a nest that has been thrown out of place. 
Sometimes she will add a new stay, tying the 
nest to a stronger limb. One sparrow, whose 
nest broke loose, put so many stays to the 

