4 8 



Wild Birds. 



grass. At last two birds consented to remain for a few minutes, when the male came 

 with an angleworm and a large green katydid. He paused a moment while I photo- 

 graphed him, and this proved to be the closing scene. The curtain dropped suddenly 

 when first one bird and then the other left their home forever, not even waiting to get the 

 katydid. The old bird at once led his brood to the woods, and being able to take short 

 flights, they had no difficulty in finding safe quarters. 



The number of times the young are fed in the course of the day depends upon their 

 age and the weather. The older they are the more food they require. At this nest the 

 labor of feeding and cleaning was shared about equally by both birds, but on hot days 

 the female was necessarily less active since there was much brooding to be done. 



The following table illustrates the relative activities of this pair in caring for their 

 young, the time of observation being approximately from nine o'clock until three in 

 the afternoon. 



The nature of the food, which depends much on the local supply or the condition of 

 the market, consisted mainly of grasshoppers and angle worms, to which we must add a few 

 insect larvae, beetles, locusts, and katydids, while the list of fruits included blueberries 

 most in favor choke cherries, and raspberries. 



As to the sanitation of the nest, inspection, as we have seen, follows each feeding. 

 The nest was cleaned during the period given in the table every fifteen minutes, arid 

 mostly by the female, who devoured a part of the excreta at the nest and carried the rest 

 away. 



The Robin has been known to pass the winter in Nova Scotia, where it feeds on wild 

 dry fruits, like dogwood berries, and at all intermediate points between its northern and 

 southern ranges, wherever the food supply is good. Thus in the cold valleys of the 

 White Mountains, where there is snow during the greater part of the year, and where the 

 mercury sometimes freezes, flocks of Robins are said to spend the winter, feeding on 

 the wild berries which are cached above the snow. The winter birds are probably in most 

 cases migrants from farther north. 



The food of the Robin consists, as we have seen, of small animals, mainly insects and 

 worms, and of wild fruits in about equal quantity. It has been shown ' that cultivated 

 fruits are eaten only as a makeshift and mainly in the months of June and July. 



Spring Robins reach Cleveland, Ohio, on the last days of February or the first 

 of March, central New Hampshire the third week in March, and I have seen them in Bur- 



1 By Beal who found forty-two per cent of animal matter in three hundred and thirty stomachs of these birds. 



