Sbe Warbler 5 



most birds, he seems to be more numerous each year. In a few days his 

 mate joins him and search for a site for their first nest begins. The Robin 

 lays four eggs, and frequently raises three broods of young in a season, never 

 so far as I know using the same site or the same nest twice in one season, 

 and certainly never using the same nest or site for two consecutive broods. 

 Year after year the same corner of the porch, the same crotch in the apple 

 tree will be used as a nesting place by the Robin, and we have all wondered 

 if the same Robins came back every year, or if the young birds returned and 

 used the nest in which they were hatched. The birds look and act wonder- 

 fully familiar when the old site is occupied, and many people are sure they 

 remember the birds from the year preceeding. I have never seen a state- 

 ment from any ornithologist throwing light on this interesting question, and 

 I twice made an attempt to obtain the information for myself. As soon as 

 the nest was occupied I made a slat trap and caught the old birds and cut 

 off a toe on the left foot, and when the young were hatched I removed a toe 

 from the right foot and by carefully smoothing some sand on the path I 

 could easily recognize my birds by their tracks. This was done for two 

 consecutive years, and the young, unfortunately, were eaten by cats before 

 the time for their migration, but the old birds apparently lived to go South. 

 The following spring the nests were occupied and I almost thought I recog- 

 nized the birds, but "the footprints on the sand " told me they were not my 

 birds. I confess to some disappointment, and if I were a poet, instead of a 

 politician, I would state the result the other way. For in that event I would 

 not be expected to confine myself so strictly to the truth ! 



Earlv one summer a female Robin, with two white wings and some 

 white markings on the body, came to the yard of a neighbor of mine, but 

 after staying about a week she disappeared. 



One spring I found a male Robin hanging dead to the limb of an apple 

 tree, and after taking him down found that he had swallowed about two feet 

 of common cotton wrapping twine, and left about a foot hanging out of his 

 mouth, and this protruding end became entangled in a limb, holding the 

 bird until I found him. 



All Thrushes, except the Robin, are mottled on the breast and the breast 

 of the young Robin is mottled for the first season, so the young can be readily 

 told from the old birds. The Robin is a great lover of angle worms and 

 we have all been amused at seeing him pull worms from our lawns and tip- 

 ping over backwards when the strain was relieved by the worms leaving the 

 ground. The young follow the mother while she gathers the worms to feed 

 them, and about the time for weaning the young birds I have frequently 

 seen the mother bird pick up straws and sticks and offer them to her young 

 instead of food. This may be done to discourage them from following her 

 any longer, but I think it is more probably caused by a return of the nest 

 buildine instinct to the mother. 



