ROBINS 639 



orchard trees, or in hedges. In the more open woods nests are 

 placed in small spruce and fir trees at six to ten feet elevation. 

 I have found nests placed on top of broken stubs at six to ten 

 feet elevation. Along rivers and waterways many nests are 

 placed in trees on the banks which lean out over the water. 

 Many times nests are placed on beams under bridges, or in 

 sheds or under the eaves of ice houses on beams. I have found 

 nests placed on top of rail fences and exceptionally one on the 

 bottom rail of a fence not more than two feet from the ground. 

 A typical nest has a foundation of a few twigs and much rein- 

 deer lichen (Cladonia rangiferina), well cupped with mud, 

 mixed with dry grass, and lined with fine dry grass. An aver- 

 age nest measures in depth five inches outside by one and 

 three-quarters inside, while the diameter is four and a quarter 

 outside by three and a quarter inside. The eggs are generally 

 greenish blue, unmarked, but once I found a set in which the 

 eggs were marked with chestnut brown and one egg in the set 

 almost exactly matched an average egg of the California 

 Thrasher, while the others varied from a few spots to practi- 

 cally none. A set of four eggs found May 29, 1898, at Ban- 

 gor, measure 1.12 x 0.80, 1.14 x 0.78, 1.14 x 0.80, 1.14 x 0.79. 



The Robin has several songs and calls. The well known 

 "wicky, wicky, wicky" is uttered from the top of a tree, seem- 

 ingly as a call or announcement of its presence. The same 

 call is often uttered by a lusty worm-seeking individual hop- 

 ping along the lawn, or changing its hop into so rapid a motion 

 of progress as to almost become a run, and when at last it has 

 found and caught the end of a good fat worm and is valiantly 

 struggling to haul its prey out of the hole, with feet braced 

 and head erect as progress is made, final success is greeted by 

 a smothered "wick" as it flies away with its prey. Other calls 

 are a "weack" and a "chirrup," which are uttered as calls of 

 alarm or pleading for the young, or as calls of anxiety, while 

 an anxious "wick" is sometimes uttered for the same cause. 

 When much excited the birds utter a harsh, oft repeated "wick 



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