434 THE THRUSH FAMILY 



to protest in a state of polite indignation against the presence of 

 some house-sparrows at his dinner-table. While he protested, they 

 finished the crumbs. 



The estate that surrounded the front and sides of the house was 

 in possession of a young robin of the year. During the preliminary 

 settlement of boundaries early in August he was in the habit of 

 entering his side of the farmyard. From this he was driven off 

 by the Yard Robin, who was at the time in full moult, tailless, 

 disreputable in his appearance and short in his temper. But the 

 young one had no difficulty in maintaining his position in the garden, 

 where he had established a right to the crumbs from my table. In 

 nearly every contest between robins the bird in possession seemed, 

 indeed, to have a moral advantage over the invader. His righteous 

 indignation lent him force, and in many cases the foe did not even 

 await the onset. 



My own observations at this farm and elsewhere have led me to 

 doubt the statement that the young of the year are generally driven 

 away by the adult birds. It is sometimes supported by another 

 statement to the effect that the young disappear. This in a sense 

 is true. As young birds they do certainly disappear, for, in and 

 about August, they moult off the brown and buff feathers of the 

 fledgling stage, and assume the red breast and uniform olive-green 

 back of the adults, from whom they then become practically indis- 

 tinguishable. It is then very difficult to follow their movements. 

 I think observation will show that victory does not depend so much 

 upon age and strength but individual pugnacity and courage, in 

 which robins, like human beings, differ much. 



The robin's peculiar system of private property is the result, 

 no doubt, of his instinctive sense that so much ground, with the 

 grubs and other small game therein, is necessary to his sustenance 

 during the winter. But what long chain of circumstances in the 

 remote past was it that led him to adopt this system rather than 

 those, less injurious in their operation, which are adopted by the 



