THE WESTERN ROBIN. 47 



have come! The robins have come! " and we run 

 to see. There they are in the pepper trees. 



Our pepper trees seem to ripen their clusters of 

 red berries on purpose for the robins (and the 

 waxwings), and these birds never leave us until 

 they have stripped the boughs. They swallow 

 the fruit whole, and throw up the bare, hard seeds 

 after the sweet pulp has digested. You can hear 

 the patter of the seeds on roof and sidewalk. 



Our little friend from San Diego writes that the 

 robins and waxwings put pepper-seeds in the 

 water-troughs. He says, " The birds must bring 

 them a good ways, as there are no pepper trees 

 near the troughs." If he watches this winter, he 

 will notice that just before the robins come to 

 drink, they are in the pepper trees, and of course, 

 when they drink, they spit out the seeds, as they 

 have no use for them. 



One would think they might stop long enough 

 to eat their meals properly, arid reject the kernels 

 in the first place; but if you try tasting the 

 pepper-berries for yourselves, you will, see that 

 the meat is on the outside of the shell, instead of 

 being within the shell, like a nut. And the sweet 

 meat sticks to the pepper-seed, so the bird must 

 swallow it to soak it off. There is always a good 

 reason for what birds are doing, if one can only 

 get at it. 



