THE NESTING OF THE ROBIN 121 



ber of birds which are ready to utilize a place 

 specially provided for them. They are well served 

 with a box about six inches square, having an 

 entrance hole quite twice as large as the hole in 

 a tit's box, that Is to say, a. hole about two inches 

 square. The box should be placed against a wall, 

 about three feet from the ground and facing the 

 east, where the entrance will catch the morning 

 sunlight. But though your garden may be the 

 regular haunt of a pair which have fought away 

 from it all intruders of their own kind, and though 

 this box is undoubtedly the most eligible building 

 site within its wall, the chances are just about two 

 to one that the robins will find some outrageously 

 inappropriate place and prefer it. In that case 

 they have just to be humoured. 



In a week or two the young robins will be 

 hopping about the gardens and hedgerows, and it 

 is worth while to note that in their first, immature 

 plumage they are dressed not as robins, but as 

 thrushes. Their speckled coat closely resembles 

 that of the mavis, and indicates a relationship 

 about which no ornithologist is now in doubt. In 

 other words, robins are of the thrush family, and 

 both young robins and old thrushes get their 

 speckled feathers from a common ancestor. 



