CHAPTER IV. 



THE ROBIN AT ARM'S LENGTH. 



It would be hard to find a better symbol of cheerfulness than the Robin singing through the rain. The green 

 grass pricking through the April snow is a pleasant sight because it is the sign of spring. For the same reason the 

 snow-laden twigs of the apple tree on the lawn take on a new interest when a Robin alights in them and turns its 

 bright breast to your window. 



NO bird is better known in America than the Robin who annually visits nearly every 

 part of the continent. Upon the whole it shuns the forest and comes to the 

 haunts of man, to the farm, the village and the city street, with their attractive 

 orchards and parks, their long lines of shade trees and green lawns. 



Is it possible to say anything new 

 about such a familiar personality? Not 

 much, you may think, yet it will be inter- 

 esting to study our friend at a closer range 

 than is usually possible. In this case we 

 shall " make the mountain come to Maho- 

 met," or bring the nest from the treetop to 

 a point nearer the ground, where there is 

 no foliage to obscure our vision, and where 

 we can see every thing that transpires, 

 within reach of the hand. 



Birds differ slightly in every bodily 

 character, as well as in every mental trait, 

 and while we commonly meet with average 

 types, extremes of temperament are by no 

 means rare. This fact is illustrated by the 

 Robins whose history follows. 



One pair dwelt in the woods and were 

 exceedingly wary, while the other was com- 

 fortably settled in town, and lived on a 

 familiar footing with man. The town 

 Robins had, I suspected, already led forth 

 a brood from a pine tree on the bank close 

 to my house, but at all events there was a 

 new nest in the apple tree on the top of the hill, and on the twenty-fifth of July the 

 mother bird was sitting on three blue eggs. Incubation lasted about two weeks, and life 

 at the nest about twelve days. 



36 



Fig. 26. "Robin snow" in April x 3. 



