638 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



begins to incubate with the first egg, and one parent or the 

 other is on the nest nearly all the time. In one case under 

 observation where there were four eggs, incubation began the 

 first day, an egg was laid each day, the eggs were left only for 

 a few minutes at a time until the eleventh day when the birds 

 remained on the nest constantly until the fourteenth day when 

 the first egg hatched. All four eggs were hatched by the 

 evening of the fifteenth day, but it is evident that while the 

 first egg laid hatched in fourteen days from the time it was 

 laid, the last egg of the set laid must have hatched in only a 

 little over eleven days. It seems to be an unvarying rule that 

 the last egg of a set laid hatches in fewer days than the first 

 one in cases where incubation is commenced when the first egg 

 is laid. 



The male bird renders some aid toward nest building, but 

 the female certainly does most of the work. The male also 

 takes short turns at incubating, more often helping in this 

 work towards the end of the incubation period. He faithfully 

 tends out on the young and has much to do in taking charge 

 of, or perhaps I had better put it weaning them, while the 

 female is already incubating the second set. The young are 

 in the nest about eighteen days on the average. The parents 

 feed them frequently through the day, bringing them worms, 

 beetles and other insect food and carefully carrying away the 

 excrement in their bills. There seems no doubt that in some 

 cases the Robins actually eat the excrement of their young, as 

 I have seen a Robin take the fresh excrement in its bill and 

 seemingly swallow it and remain on the nest covering the 

 young for over half an hour. 



The nests are quite variously situated, though always very 

 similar in construction and appearance. In the city streets 

 the nests are usually saddled on horizontal branches of elms 

 and maples, sometimes forty to fifty feet from the ground. 

 Many nests are placed in evergreens and ornamental shrub- 

 bery at elevations of six to fifteen feet, or in apple and other 



