274 



Trees, Stars, and Birds 



FIG. 164. Robins place 

 their nests on branches of 

 trees. They will occupy 

 open houses that are placed 

 in trees so that they are 

 sheltered by the foliage. 



alike. Do you know whether 

 both male and female robins 

 sing? Does either one sing be- 

 fore nest building begins ? Where 

 do they build? What materials 

 do they use in making their nests ? 

 Is the same nest used more than 

 one year? Is more than one 

 brood reared in a season? Do 

 the parents take turns in sitting 

 on the eggs? Do they both feed 

 the young? How long do young 

 robins require parental care ? 

 With what do the parents feed them? 



Winter home of the robin. Robins usually spend the 

 cold months in the South, but in thickets and in cedar 

 swamps they winter as far north as Michigan. Give 

 two reasons for their remaining in cedar swamps during 

 the cold months. Have you ever seen a robin between 

 the last of November and the middle of February? 

 When do the first ones arrive from the South? When 

 do they become common ? How early do they begin 

 building their nests? Are they as numerous as for- 

 merly? What is the largest number that you ever 

 counted from one point of observation ? Have you any 

 reason to think that robins return in spring to the place 

 where they were hatched ? 



At Sandusky, Ohio, an aluminum band was carefully 

 placed on the leg of a robin that had not been long out of 

 the nest. The following February this robin was found 

 at Nashville, Tennessee. 



