ROBIN REDBREAST 41 



ness from a quarter of an inch at the rim to an inch at the 

 bottom. Grass worked in with the clay while it was yet 

 soft aided in holding the mud cup together. And now last 

 of all came the smooth dry carpet of fine grass. The whole 

 structure measured eight inches across the top. Inside it 

 wasxthree inches in width and one and a half in depth. 

 It was one of those wonderful objects which were made for 

 a purpose, and had served that purpose well. 



For some time it has been known that robins congre- 

 gate in numbers to spend the night. Mr. Bradford Torrey 

 has told us of a large roost in New England. The place 

 was used only during summer after the young of the first 

 brood were old enough to be upon the wing and fly thither 

 with the adult males. The females at this time were busy 

 hatching their second nest of eggs. A swampy woodland 

 was the spot selected, and here the birds assembled each 

 night during the months from June to October. As he 

 watched them entering the woods in the evening, he often 

 counted more than a thousand coming to the roost from one 

 direction. 



A winter roost far more remarkable for numbers than 

 this has been described to me by a gentleman who lived 

 near it in his youth. It was situated in what is locally 

 known as a " cedar glade, " near Fosterville, Bedford 

 county, Tennessee. The land there is swampy. Lime- 



