206 American Birds 



In another yard where the blackbirds nested in the 

 cypress trees they grew so bold as to be almost vicious, 

 for they had nested there so long that they thought they 

 owned the place and could exclude all intruders. If a 

 strange person went near the nests while they contained 

 young, the old blackbirds began to scold and swoop from 

 the upper limbs, giving the intruder a sharp rap on the 

 head. It furnished us lots of fun to see a strange dog 

 begin to nose around. In an instant he got a clip on 

 the ear and then another. The birds struck, and were 

 away before he could retaliate. He would retreat, 

 and the minute he turned his back the birds were after 

 him, nipping his ears. The faster he ran, the better the 

 chance for them to strike, till they bustled him out of the 

 yard and down the street in a hurry. 



In the spring and fall the robins often assemble in a 

 large grove every evening and roost together. I discov- 

 ered one of these robin roosts at Berkeley, California. 

 The robins assembled each evening in a large eucalyptus 

 grove and spread out over the country to forage during 

 the day. This was the last of February and the first of 

 March. Then the birds began to go north. Later in the 

 spring I have seen them do the same thing when they 

 reach their breeding grounds in Oregon. They like a 

 community life. 



One evening I went down to the eucalyptus grove to 

 count the robins. I went at five-thirty, but was not early 

 enough, for the grove was then well populated with rob- 

 ins. They were coming in singly and in small flocks. 

 In ten minutes I counted over three hundred coming from 

 the west. Then I counted from the south, and over six 



