THE ROBIN'S COURTSHIP 



AT any season of the year bird-watching is an 

 occupation with some of the interest of drama, 

 but for emotional passages there is, of course, no 

 time like the spring". Then, as the poet say ( s,, 

 the robin's breast assumes a richer orange, and 

 the robin himself assumes certain airs and graces 

 most remarkably unlike those worn by him at all 

 other times. Everybody is supposed to know the 

 ordinary bearing of the robin. As a matter of 

 fact, the robin has two very distinct and yet quite 

 ordinary manners of carrying himself. Most fre- 

 quently we see him as a prim and trig little bird, 

 with all his feathers neatly and tightly laid down 

 on his slight but vigorous frame. He suggests 

 that he is all there, very capable of taking care 

 of himself, and very well and hearty despite bad 

 weather and shortage of the grub supplies. 



But very nearly as often, especially at times 

 of cold thaw, we find the robin resembling a 

 loose ball of feathers, with its circular contour 

 broken only by a head at one end and a tail at 

 the other. Robins in this state are sometimes 

 thought to be sick. They look just a little sick, 

 as if they had swallowed a worm which was 



