FRIEXDS IX FEATHERS 



saw her miss the branch of a nearby plum-tree, where there was 

 good foraging, and fall among the leaves below. There she rested 

 for a short time, then reached the branch she had first started 

 toward. From there she wavered to earth to feast on angle 

 worms until my next fear for her was that she would burst. 

 Then her mate came to her and they talked it over. He went 

 to inspect the nest but did not enter it. Soon the mother 

 bird began brooding again. She left the nest more fre- 

 quently than usual that day; the following she seemed quite 

 recovered from her rough experience. Three of the eggs hatched, 

 so that only one bird was lost, while I cannot prove that it was 

 on account of the storm. 



That mother Robin stands monumental to me, as the most 

 heroic of all my feathered friends; because I am convinced that 

 she brooded without once leaving her nest through cold April 

 downpour, from Sunday night until ten o'clock Thursday; quite, 

 if not more than ninety-four hours. Human mothers are not the 

 only ones who sacrifice personal comfort for their young. 



Another dearly loved pair of Robins built later in a mulberry 

 beside the well. Each summer this tree threw out a mass of 

 tender shoots, each winter froze them, each spring the gardener 

 cut them back to live wood. The mass of stubs made most in- 

 viting nest locations for the birds, so attractive that a pair of Black- 

 birds also elected to settle in that particular tree. The Robins 

 had begun building first, I assisting with rags, twine, tow and 

 cotton cord. This made building so easy for Mother Robin, that 

 she finished and was brooding before the Blackbirds, scorning my 

 help, had a good foundation. That left Father Robin all his time, 

 which he employed in harassing the Blackbirds, until they aban- 

 doned the location and built among the rcses on the back wall of 

 the Cabin. 



From my material the Robins built a big, showy nest, the 



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