UNDER THE MAPLES 



measure, or best stands the Darwinian test of the 

 fittest to survive. His versatility, adaptiveness, 

 and fecundity are remarkable. While not an 

 omnivorous feeder, he yet has a very wide range 

 among fruits and insects. From cherries to cur- 

 rants and strawberries he ranges freely, while he 

 is the only thrush that makes angle-worms one 

 of his dietetic staples and looks upon a fat grub 

 as a rare tidbit. Then his nesting-habits are the 

 most diverse of all. Now he is a tree-builder in 

 the fork of a trunk or on a horizontal branch, 

 then a builder in vines or rosebushes around your 

 porch, then on some coign of vantage about 

 your house or barn, or under the shed, or under a 

 bridge, or in the stone wall, or on the ground above 

 a hedge. I have known him to go into a well and 

 build there on a projecting stone. He even nests 

 beyond the Arctic Circle, and it is said he never 

 sings sweeter than when singing during those 

 long Arctic days. 



He brings off his first brood in May, and the 

 second in June, and if a dry season does not 

 seriously curtail his food-supply, a third one in 

 September. He is a hustler in every sense of the 

 word a typical American in his enterprise and 

 versatility. His voice is the first I hear in the 

 morning, and the last at night. Little wonder 

 that there are twenty robins to one bluebird, or 

 wood thrush, or catbird. The song sparrow is 



176 



