ROBINS 637 



enough to find rotten apples or mountain ash berries adhering 

 to any trees they speedily engage in a feast on these. 



I fully believe that most Robins are mated on their arrival 

 here, as generally they seem to locate by pairs in certain 

 localities immediately upon their arrival, and there is no doubt 

 either in my mind that many return to the very same localities 

 where they lived the previous summer. This of course is hard 

 to prove, but anybody who has studied the Robins about home 

 from season to season, and listened to their songs, which vary 

 much with individuals, will feel assured that the same Robins 

 do return. 



Soon after locating they begin nest building, and by April 

 fifteenth the pioneers sometimes have full complements of eggs, 

 though this date is exceptionally early. Either the migration 

 continues through April into May, or else some individuals 

 are slower about pairing or beginning nest building, for fresh 

 eggs of what is most certainly the first brood are even found 

 as late as the first week in June under conditions which indicate 

 that the birds had not previously been disturbed. At any rate 

 for some cause the season of laying is considerably protracted 

 so that by the time some birds are just beginning to feed the 

 young of their first brood others are incubating eggs of the 

 second brood, and so things continue until some Robins are 

 hatching their third brood while others are only hatching their 

 second brood. In general I believe that the first eggs of the 

 second brood are not laid until June fifteenth and from then 

 to the middle of July, while only a partial third brood is 

 reared, eggs for which are laid in late July or early August. 



I have known of a nest being completed and the first egg 

 laid in six days from the time when it was commenced, while 

 other nests have required even up to twenty days from time of 

 beginning to completion, but the longer time required was due 

 to a spell of prolonged rainy weather. An egg is usually laid 

 each day until the set of three to five, exceptionally six, and 

 more usually four eggs have been laid. The bird usually 



