186 



THE OOLOGIST 



Old Nesting Site of A Colony of 

 Robins. 



(Marula migratoria.) 

 It seems an odd thing to speak of a 

 colony of robins, but when several 

 pairs are found nesting in the same 

 location it could scarcely be called 

 anything else. 



However it was towards the last of 

 May, 1907, while walking in a field 

 near a bridge of the N. Y., N. H. & H. 

 R. R., near Stamford, Conn., that I 

 noticed, between the sections of the 

 siding on the bridge, several dark 

 objects which I thought at the time to 

 be nothing but piles of cinders or 

 dirt, but on crossing the bridge several 

 days later, found them to be nests of 

 the American Robin, eleven in number, 

 all apparently just ready for the re- 

 ception of the eggs, but no eggs were 

 laid in 1907, all the birds deserting 

 shortly after my visit. I never expect- 

 ed to see such an occurance again but 

 was very pleasantly surprised on May 

 2, 1908, while walking through the 

 same field to see two new nests in 

 the same location as those I had found 

 the previous season. On making a 

 thorough search of the bridge I found 

 four more nests. These other four 

 were built on an iron girder directly 

 under the tracks and the tops of the 

 nests only measured 22 inches from 

 the base of the rails ! They were 

 not the usual type of Robin nest, be- 

 ing rather flat with hardly any mud 

 used in their construction. The furth- 

 est distance apart of any two nests 

 was 28 inches, and the nearest two 

 were 16 inches apart. 



At this date none contained eggs. 

 On returning May 8, 1908, one contain- 

 ed four eggs, one three, two two, and 

 three were still empty. 



There were five workmen hammer- 

 ing on the bridge while I took the 

 photo, one of which told me that the 

 female bird, (which he swore was the 



male) had been sitting right under 

 the hammering for the most part of 

 that morning. After taking a picture 

 of the nest, I took the workmen's 

 and one of them whom his 

 comrades called "Dirty-face," had an 

 exceedingly hard time trying to get 

 it through his head why he could not 

 see his picture immediately after I 

 took it. 



The average number of trains which 

 cross this bridge per 24 hours is 400 

 not counting any freight at all and how 

 these robins stand this noise and vi- 

 bration not more than 20 inches above 

 their heads day and night is more 

 than I can understand. 



Most of the eggs hatched, and suc- 

 cessful broods left all but two of the 

 nests. 



Paul G. Howes. 



Ye Editor enjoyed an over Sunday 

 visit from J. F. Ferry of the Field 

 Museum of Natural History recently. 

 He was our campmate on a trip into 

 the Canadian bird paradise last Spring 

 and a better one could not be found. 



THE DEAD. 



We are sorry to be called upon to 

 remove from our subscription list the 

 name of C. T. Brennon, of Mount Car- 

 roll, Illinois, a student of birds well 

 known in the State of Illinois. Though 

 of a quiet, retiring nature, seldom pub- 

 lishing anything, he had a large know- 

 ledge of the avian tribe. 



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 of THE OOLOGIST to give or send 

 the duplicate to some person interest- 

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