THE AMERICAN ROBIN. 
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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 him- 
self forever comfortless. It is not well, of course, to inquire too particu- 
larly as to the duration of this bereaved state—we are all human. 
As Dr. Wheaton has already pointed out, the Robin occasionally de- 
velops surprising powers of mimicry. I once found one in early spring who 
Taken in Canal Dover. Photo by the Author. 
ALL FED. 
called his mate ‘‘Phoebe” with such a convincing accent that I spent a half 
hour searching for the flycatcher. Another which sang back of Orton Hall 
on the O. S. U. campus had incorporated the familiar ringing vesper notes 
of the Wood Thrush into its own song. He gave the borrowed notes in 
three keys or qualities, all of which were essentially characteristic of the 
other bird. — 
In nesting the Robin displays little caution, and its homely mud-walled 
