30 Gbe TOarblcr 



us at least. One day when the bird happened to be off the nest, an old cock 

 Sparrow flew down into it and thrashing about threw three eggs to the 

 ground before my very eyes and before I could interfere. I grabbed my gun 

 and went out and began shooting English Sparrows, bagging 130 of them 

 and then stopped only because I was exhausted, and not because I thought 

 the crime of the old cock had been properly avenged. The Robin has a va- 

 riety of notes, all of which are mellow and pleasing to the ear. Its song is 

 delivered from the topmost branches of some tree early in the morning, at 

 evening and frequently throughout the day, generally just preceding a show- 

 er. The Crow is the greatest enemy of the Robin at nesting time. He does 

 not venture into villages or thick settlements to a very great extent, though 

 more so than one would believe who has not observed closely. I have fre- 

 quently caught an old Crow soon after daylight in the early morning quietly 

 prowling about the trees and shrubbery of my lawns looking for eggs or 

 young birds to eat or carry away. They are usually wise enough not to 

 come near an inhabited house except at a very early hour. Farther east on 

 Long Island in the strictly rural farming districts, where Robins are plenti- 

 ful and houses near which they might nest few, I have found them nesting 

 often in the woods, in cedar thickets and other trees about highways and 

 fences. In such a locality I have made careful observation for several years 

 and am convinced that Crows break up more than fifty per cent, of all Rob- 

 ins' nests, either by eating the eggs before they are hatched or the young 

 birds before they are able to fly. It is possible that Bluejays may have some 

 hand in this but I think the major part of it can be charged to Corvus ameri- 

 canus. There are no red squirrels in this locality and but few black snakes 

 and flying squirrels. I doubt if flying squirrels destroy the eggs of any 

 birds except those that nest in holes in trees, such as Woodpeckers, Nut- 

 hatches, Chickadees, Wrens and Bluebirds. 



The Robin breeds freely in Central Park and all the suburbs of the city. 

 No doubt it would be found in the smaller parks also were it not for the 

 superabundance of the English Sparrow and lack of food supply. Four eggs 

 is the usual number, seldom three, and only twice in my life have I ob- 

 served a set of five. The Robin arrives from the South usually in March 

 and remains until November or later. Quantities of them spend the winter 

 in the pine woods of southern New Jersey, and I see them nearly every win- 

 ter about the cedar thickets of Suffolk County, Long Island. I even heard one 

 sing at Smithtown on a clear, bright, frosty morning early in February when 

 the ground was covered with ice and snow. Robins feed upon insects, ber- 

 ries and fruits. During summer they live almost wholly upon earth worms 

 which they also feed their young. They are very fond of mulberries and 

 when this fruit can be had in abundance they will not molest cherries or 

 garden berries. They frequently annoy fruit growers and help themselves 

 to the family berry patch, and a few years ago were freely shot on account 



