6 Birds Every Child Should Know 



turquoise blue egg that his devoted mother has 

 warmed into Hfe, he usually finds three or four 

 baby brothers and sisters huddled within the 

 grassy cradle. In April, both parents worked 

 hard to prepare this home for them. Having 

 brought coarse grasses, roots, and a few leaves 

 or weed stalks for the foundation, and pellets 

 of mud in their bills for the inner walls (which 

 they cleverly managed to smooth into a bowl 

 shape without a mason's trowel), and fine 

 grasses for the lining of the nest, they saddled 

 it on to the limb of an old apple tree. Robins 

 prefer low-branching orchard or shade trees 

 near our homes to the tall, straight shafts of 

 the forest. Some have the courage to build 

 among the vines or under the shelter of our 

 piazzas. I know a pair of robins that reared a 

 brood in a little clipped bay tree in a tub next 

 to a front door, where people passed in and out 

 continually. Doubtless very many birds would 

 be glad of the shelter of our comfortable homes 

 for theirs if they could only trust us. Is it not 

 a shame that they cannot? Robins, especially, 

 need a roof over their heads. When they fool- 

 ishly saddle their nest on to an exposed limb 

 of a tree, the first heavy rain is likely to soften 

 the mud walls, and wash apart the heavy, bulky 

 structure, when 



"Down tumble babies and cradle and all." 



