4 TURD US HIGIiATOEWS. 



pine barrens without seeing a single bird, or hearing a note, when suddenly a chirp, perhaps of 

 a Robin., met the ear, then other notes sounded out, and in a few moments I would be surrounded 

 by hundreds of birds, composed of a dozen species. These companies would vary in width from 

 a few rods to a mile. They were always in motion, and generally moved from north to south. 

 This always occurred in autumn and winter; in spring the birds migrate northward more 

 scatteringly. 



They must have a motive for congregating in this manner, aside from sociability, for it must 

 be detrimental to them individually, as each bird would have a smaller opportunity of procuring 

 food than if it had moved alone, especially if it were weaker than its fellows. Mutual protection 

 against natural enemies may be one reason. As the smaller species invariably move only when 

 the larger do, and appear to be guided by them, perhaps the louder voices of the Blue Jays and 

 Woodpeckers tend to keep the Warblers from straggling and becoming lost in the woods, 

 when they would be in danger from Hawks, that would not dare to attack them if under the 

 protection of the stronger species. 



Although the Robins are shy in autumn and winter, they become tamer during the breeding 

 season, and may be seen hopping about the greens of our villages with the utmost unconcern ; 

 indeed they even visit the public parks of the great cities and alight on the grass plats and 

 gardens within a few feet of the pedestrians. They build their nests in all sorts of localities and 

 in the most peculiar situations. Sometimes a pine in the deep woods is selected, or a cedar on 

 a breezy hill-top ; again, a pair will build in the apple tree that overhangs the farmhouse, and 

 the worthy husbandman will tell you that the same birds have bred in the same locality for 

 years. 



They seem to have a fondness for the same place, and will often use the decaying nest of the 

 previous season as a foundation for the new structure. I knew a pair to build for several 

 successive years on a bracket over a window of a dwelling house ; here they piled mixed mud 

 and grass, summer after summer, until they had accumulated a heap of rubbish a foot in height. 

 Another couple had strangely taken a fancy to the window bracket of a house which stood but a. 

 few rods away, and which was built exactly like the first. 



The birds seem to possess a liking for building about houses, and I have seen several nests 

 in similar situations to that described above. I once found one built on the top of a slatted 

 hen pen, in a situation exposed to wind and rain. Nor do they always choose the outside of 

 buildings, but often more sensibly enter deserted edifices and there construct their nests. Upon 

 visiting an ancient house at Hog Island, Mass., in which Rufus Choate was born, I found no 

 less than four placed inside upon the broad window sills, the birds having found entrance 

 through some broken panes of glass. Whether the progeny reared in so auspicious a spot went 

 forth among their kind, and, following the example of the great man, whose birthplace was theirs, 

 astonished bird courts with their superior eloquence, I am unable to say. 



Individuals of this species sometimes find a natural shelter. I found a nest containing four 

 eggs in a hole in an old apple tree ; the aperture was about six inches deep and four in diameter, 

 and the nest was neatly placed in the bottom, after the manner of that of the Bluebird. 



Probably no bird is more assiduous in guarding its nest than this species. Upon the slightest 

 appearance of clanger it sounds its querulous, loud alarm-note, calling the attention not only 

 of its feathered friends, but of man (for nearly every one has a liking for the Robin), and in this 

 way it procures the assistance of powerful allies. It is ever on the alert, and woe betide the 

 unfortunate urchin who has been bitten with the mania for egg collecting, if in his meanderings 

 over forbidden ground in search of rare nests, he chances to be seen by a Robin who has a nest 

 in the vicinity. No matter if Robins' eggs are not what he wants, it is all the same to the 

 anxious bird, and her cries ring out just as loudly as if his pilfering hand was on her own blue 

 eggs. This, of course, attracts the attention of the owner of the forbidden land, who is on the 



