The Robin at Arm's Length. 47 



her place until her mate is close by, then hops up and stands to one side, finally 

 leaving him to deliver what he has brought. 



10.15. The mother is back with food, but it was down the throat of a young one before 

 I could tell what it was. Cleaning and brooding them followed in due course as 

 before. 



10.18. Cock Robin comes again, but my eye was again off the nest, and in a moment 

 the business was done. Mother Robin stays and broods. I change the shutter, 

 open and close the tent window without giving her any apparent anxiety. 



10.30. Another visit from the male, who comes quickly, delivers a grasshopper or two 

 and departs, while his faithful mate resumes her post of duty. 



10.45. The cock brings another coil of angleworms, and the hen, leaving her charge just 

 long enough for the business of feeding, drops back on the nest. 



10.55. The male is taking it easy. This time he has an unusually large grasshopper, 

 which is not cut in twain but delivered whole. At the signal of his approach the 

 mother leaves, having brooded forty minutes by the watch. 



10.57. Two minutes elapse. Back comes the alma mater, loaded to the muzzle with 

 blueberries, which are shot out one by one, and strike the yellow targets in the 

 bull's eye every time. She comes to the farther side and broods at the moment 

 the preliminary work of feeding and inspection is over. 



11.16. The male has now brought a load of bright red choke cherries. He hops down 

 the branch by the usual path and up to the nest, but the female, who is brooding, 

 strangely keeps her position and, whether from absent-mindedness or caprice 

 refuses to budge. When the male gives an impatient cuck ! cuck ! the mother can 

 keep her position no longer, for the young upset her equilibrium in their struggle, 

 and she hops to one side. Resuming her place she sits there in the bright sun- 

 shine, with back to the tent, mouth agape, and crest erect. Twenty inches away 

 are the tent, the camera, and the eye of the observer, but for none of these things 

 does she now care a straw. They have been thoroughly tested and found harmless. 



1 1.43. Cock Robin is on hand with a beak full of grasshoppers coming, as is now his invar- 

 iable custom, to the right side. On this occasion the mother hopped up promptly 

 and received a part of the food into her own bill. Did she eat it ? Not a particle. 

 The young got it all. The male then retired, followed closely by his mate. In one 

 minute she has captured prey and is back to her brood. The young erect their 

 crests like their elders, and flapping their half-fledged wings, try to climb to the 

 edge of the nest, but without success. 



The last day of July opened hot and sultry, and when I approached the nest one 

 young Robin was already out, and making for the highest point of the nesting bough. 

 He cheeped aloud for food, and looked uncomfortable, for the heat was already strong. 

 The male only was in attendance as on the previous day, the female being occupied, as I 

 suspected, in starting a new nest. 



It was difficult to get any food past this enterprising fledgling, who stood in the path 

 and took everything that was brought. Several times the bird would make a move 

 as if intending to fly to the peak of the tent, and might have done so, had I not decided 

 to replace him in his nest. The expected certainly happened, for all tumbled out shriek- 

 ing and squealing. Put them back and out they would go again, and flop down on the 



