BIRDS OF MINNESOTA 443 
ing snows and piercing winds, will understand the joy 
which comes back with their return to this beautiful north-land 
in the spring. 
Not only do they come to meet a thousand times a thousand 
welcomes for their own sake, but to proclaim that the winter 
is gone. 
Lingering drifts of dingy snow may still cower under the 
covert of outbuildings and fences, and the winds may still be 
chilly at times, but the grass has formed green patches on the 
lawns, while the bloodroots and liverworts have begun to peer 
through the moist carpet of decaying leaves in the budding 
woodlands. The males arrive several days in advance of the 
females, and always in the morning. 
If sunny and warm for the season, their familiar notes from 
the loftiest tree that borders the forest, or the tallest spire of 
the city will proclaim their presence in a flood of continuous 
song that will challenge the ear of the dullest. On the other 
hand, should it be windy, cloudy and chilly, the closest 
observation will be required to make thelonging hope assured, 
by finding small parties flitting from bush to bush along the 
borders of brushy woods, or streams fringed with alders and 
willows in characteristic silence. This transpires between the 
25th of March and the 5th of April.* After about a week, the 
songless females have come, as quietly as the first flakes of 
the autumn’s snow, when the small parties of males—the 
bachelor’s clubs of the species disappear. Hach has soon 
wooed and won a female companion with whom to share the 
joys and cares of the summer, and hence they will only be 
seen in pairs until the autumn. Iam confident that with few 
exceptions, the same individuals are reunited in each pair | 
amongst the older birds; and that the sanguineous conflicts, 
and the gentler ones for the mastery of song, are among the 
young males of the previous year. True, there doubtless may 
be some widowers there, some perhaps who have been thrice 
married, and if so, the first display of chivalric strife will be 
sure to prove their prowess. 
The reinstalment of the Robins in our midst has more to do 
with human happiness than many a philosopher has yet found 
out. 
*On March 11th, 1878, I saw three Robins (presumably females) and on February 7th, 
1880 I saw one in the suburbs of the city. Dr. Hvoslef’s report gives dates as follows: 
“February 19th, 1881 saw a flock, March 23, 1883, and at the same date, 1884,” 
