342 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



outside work, but when it came to the inside that alone was her 

 work. It was she who carried the mud from where the water 

 dripped off a rug. and it was she who patted and formed with her 

 Httle feet and breast the round Httle home. The four bhie eggs 

 were laid, and she sat so contentedly while Mr. Robin in a tree 

 across the road sang "cheer up ! cheer up !" He was willing to sing 

 to her, but like many men thought it was for her entirely to do the 

 family work. But Mrs. R. thought differently. She would often 

 call to him. he would come reluctantly nearer and nearer, she wait- 

 ing patiently for him to snuggle down on the eggs before she would 

 leave. Again she would go directly after him and bring him back. 

 She always seemed to know just what tree he was in, too. Then 

 came the intensely interesting period when the young were con- 



Mrs. J. B. Hudson, Lake Cily. 



stantly clamoring for food, and when they were leaving the 

 nest, teaching them by dainty bits of food to fly farther and farther, 

 teaching them to bathe and many amusing things one sees who has 

 eyes and uses them. 



To the enemy of the robin, for the cultivated fruit he eats I 

 would quote from W'm. Dutcher on the economic importance of this 

 bird, and such an intimate knowledge of one pair will excite a desire 

 for facts regarding other species, which you can very easily bring to 

 your door by putting out a bathing pan in summer — one of the 

 large shallow milk pans answers the purpose very well. Put up a 



