THE WESTERN ROBIN. 245 
willing to waive the proprieties for a few moments you will hear low murmurs 
of affection and soft blandishments, which it would tax the art of a Crockett 
to reproduce. And again, nothing can exceed the sadness of a Robin’s lament 
over a lost mate. All the virtues of the deceased are set forth in a coronach 
of surpassing woe, and the widower declares himself forever comfortless. 
It is not well, of course, to inquire too particularly as to the duration of this 
bereaved state—we are all human. 
In spite of his fondness for human society, there are two periods of 
retirement in Robin’s year. The first occurs in March and early April, and 
may be denominated the season of courtship. After the first ardent greeting 
oi the home folks, Robins gather in loose companies and keep to the seclusion 
of the woods, following the sun from east to south and west, ransacking the 
roots of trees and the edges of standing water for food, and, above all, 
sketching in the matrimonial plans of the season. When Robins have become 
common about the streets and yards of village and town, partners have usually 
been selected, but there still remain for many of the cocks hard-contested 
battles before peaceful possession is assured. These are not sham fights 
either; a Robin will fight a hated rival, beak and claw, till he is either thoroly 
winded or killed outright. 
In late July and August Robins again forsake their familiar haunts, and 
spend the moulting season in the woods, moving about like ghosts in great 
straggling, silent companies. When the moult is completed, as autumn ad- 
vances, they return in merry bevies to claim their share of the ripening 
fruits—no longer begrudged now, for they prefer such harmless viands as 
mountain-ash berries, and the insipid clusters of the madrone tree. 
Robins occasionally winter on the east side of the mountains; and they 
are hard put to it unless they find a sufficient supply of ungathered fruit, 
preferably apples, left out to freeze or rot as the season dictates. West of 
the mountains they winter irregularly but quite extensively. There is noth- 
ing in the climate to forbid their staying all the time but I am inclined to 
think that their abundance in winter depends upon the berry crop, and espec- 
ially that of the Madrona (Arbutus menziesii). The fall of 1907 was 
notable in this regard. The trees were in splendid bearing, and a certain 
patch on the bluff south of Fauntleroy Park was a gorgeous blaze of red, to 
which Robins resorted in hundreds. 
Under such circumstances the birds establish winter roosts in convenient 
thickets, and repair to them at nightfall in great numbers. One such roost 
has been maintained on the outskirts of Seattle, just east of Ravenna Park, 
and in the winter of 1907-08 I estimated its population at some four thousand. 
The winter, it will be remembered, was a mild one, and every one in Seattle 
remarked the abundance of Robins. 
In nesting, the Robin displays little caution, its homely mud-walled cup 
