634 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



0.85 X 0.66. In general four eggs are laid, sometimes only 

 three and very rarely five. They are plain greenish blue in 

 color. 



The parent bird sits very closely and the nests are usually 

 only discovered by flushing the sitting bird from almost under 

 foot. She remains in the vicinity uttering a few plaintive 

 whistled calls, with now arid then a "chuck" interspersed. The 

 male soon comes into the vicinity and adds his calls, but he is 

 more wary and does not venture near the scene. 



While the inner home life of these birds has not been satis- 

 factorily revealed to me, I know that it takes from a week to 

 ten days to build the nest and feel positive that I have only 

 observed one bird working at nest construction, presumably 

 the female, and as far as my observations go the female only 

 incubates. Indeed I am not able to show that the male has 

 any especial interest in working out family affairs, but if I 

 have wronged him he has my sincere apologies. The incubation 

 period is thirteen days, and the young leave the nest in four- 

 teen to fifteen days after being hatched. 



Genus MERULA Leach. 



761. Merula migratoria (Linn.). American Robin; Cock 

 Robin; Robin Redbreast. 



Plumage of adult male : sides of head black ; top of head dull black, more 

 or less slightly veiled with olive brown ; white spot above eye ; above gray- 

 ish olive brown, slightly lighter on edges of the wings ; tail almost black, the 

 outer feathers white spotted at tips ; throat white, heavily streaked with 

 black ; breast, sides and belly tawny or rufous, becoming white at middle of 

 the belly, and in fall and winter the feathers all more or less white tipped. 

 Plumage of adult female : in general very similar to that of the male and 

 sometimes indistinguishable, but usually lighter colored on the back and tail, 

 with less distinct or extensive black on the crown, and with fewer, less heavy 

 black streaks on the throat, so that in a mated pair of birds it is usually easy 

 to tell which is male and which is female. Immature plumage : crown clove 

 brown with whitish shaft streaks ; back and wing coverts mouse gray, the 

 feathers with streaks of wood brown, edged with dull black ; rump barred 

 with dusky ; below tawny ochraceous, streaked on sides of chin and spotted 



