Vol. XXX 

 L913 



Ttlbr, .1 Successful Pair of Robins. 395 



young birds voided, during the time I had her under observation. 

 My regret is thai my notes do not show whether this habit was 

 equally constant in May, when her general condition was good. 



May 1st. At .">: .'!(> \. \i. yesterday and again at the same hour 

 tliis morning, a rather bright colored Robin, but a female I have no 

 doubt, worked for half an hour or more on a nest in the crotch of a 

 locust tree opposite my side window, in Lexington, Mass. The nest 

 is fifteen feet from the ground. Its base was originally white and 

 was made of white strings. This morning she added straw and more 

 strings. When she comes in with her bill loaded with the material, 

 she adds it to the center of the nest, stands upon it and scratches 

 with her feet. Then she settles and pressing down with her breast, 

 turns around this way and that. The effect is to drive downward 

 the newly added material into the fast forming cup of the nest and 

 to loosen some of the strings on the edge. These loose ends she seizes 

 in her bill and imbeds firmly in the sides of the nest, thereby 

 building up the rim of the cup. 



May Gth. The nest is nearly completed. Today a steady 

 drizzling rain is falling from the southeast. The robin worked 

 during luncheon time. Her method seems the same; — each time 

 she arrives at the nest, she seats herself in it, scratches, and then 

 presses the material downward. I believe that no mud was used 

 in the construction of the nest. 



Incubation began about May 12th. 



The young birds hatched about May 26th. 



lu ne 7th. The young robins all leave the nest in the early 

 morning. In the afternoon, there is pandemonium in the yard 

 next door. A little girl is unwittingly playing near one of the young 

 birds and the parents are distracted. As alarm notes, they use 

 the sharp, high "Pleent" and the lower toned, nasal "hunt" 

 They are not at resl for a second; they fly down over the child's 

 head, nervously restive; they pump their tails, flit their wings, 

 fly back anil forth, always crying. A Chebec, a Purple Finch and a 

 Warbling Yireo sing on, undisturbed. 



bine sth. In spite of the excitement of yesterday, the female 

 bird repairs the nest. 



June L3th. Incubation begins. 



.bine 23rd. The female bird, although she sits on the nest most 



