Conspicuously Red of any Shade 



Does any bird excel the robin in the great variety of his vocal 

 expressions ? Mr. Parkhurst, in his charming " Birds' Calendar," 

 says he knows of "no other bird that is able to give so many 

 shades of meaning to a single note, running through the entire 

 gamut of its possible feelings. From the soft and mellow quality, 

 almost as coaxing as a dove's note, with which it encourages its 

 young when just out of the nest, the tone, with minute grada- 

 tions, becomes more vehement, and then harsh and with quick- 

 ened reiteration, until it expresses the greatest intensity of a bird's 

 emotions. Love, contentment, anxiety, exultation, rage — what 

 other bird can throw such multifarious meaning into its tone ? 

 And herein the robin seems more nearly human than any of its 

 kind." 



There is no one thing that attracts more birds about the house 

 that a drinking-dish — large enough for a bathtub as well; and 

 certainly no bird delights in sprinkling the water over his back 

 more than a robin, often aided in his ablutions by the spattering 

 of the sparrows. But see to it that this drinking-dish is well 

 raised above the reach of lurking cats. 



While the robin is a famous splasher, his neatness stops 

 there. A robin's nest is notoriously dirty within, and so care- 

 lessly constructed of weed-stalks, grass, and mud, that a heavy 

 summer shower brings more robins' nests to the ground than we 

 like to contemplate. The color of the eggs, as every one knows, 

 has given their name to the tint. Four is the number of eggs 

 laid, and two broods are often reared in the same nest. 



Too much stress is laid on the mischief done by the robins 

 in the cherry trees and strawberry patches, and too little upon 

 the quantity of worms and insects they devour. Professor Tread- 

 well, who experimented upon some young robins kept in cap- 

 tivity, learned that they ate sixty-eight earthworms daily — "that 

 is, each bird ate forty-one per cent, more than its own weight in 

 twelve hours! The length of these worms, if laid end to end, 

 would be about fourteen feet. Man, at this rate, would eat 

 about seventy pounds of flesh a day, and drink five or six gallons 

 of water." 



226 



