35 



Rob 171. 



Ill early spring robins often will take cheese curds from the 

 ground or a flat rock, and they are fond of "smearcase," or 

 cottage cheese. Miss Mabel Tilton says that barberries and 

 privet berries are eaten on first arrival, and that later crumbs 

 of suet are taken. 



Mr. F. P. Shumway says that robins fairly fought one 

 snowy morning in early spring for some elderberries that he had 

 saved during the winter. Dr. Eleanor jNIellen writes that the 

 first robins may be brought to the house in the very early 



Fig. 30. — Feeding booth for bobwliites. (Photograph by courtesy of Allen A. 



David.) 



spring by throwing out sumac heads that have been gathered 

 in autumn and kept in water through the winter.^ 



Robins take nesting material, even cotton batting, with 

 avidity, and a pan of mud or clay often will attract them. Mrs. 

 ]Mary R. Stanley writes that one pair of robins took more than 

 fifty little strips of old soft cloth laid out on the grass for them. 

 But a good garden, an old orchard, a fertile lawn and some 

 fruiting cherry trees are all that are necessary to bring the 

 robins flocking, especially if cats are absent. 



I Mellen, Dr. Eleanor: Practical Methods for attracting Wild Birds, 1915, p. 11. 



