38 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 6-No. 6 



of this small Accipiter lias never been ful- 

 ly written, and deserves an entire article 

 in tins journal, which 1 will try to prepare 

 at an early day, unless some more facile 

 pen does justice to the subject. 



In conclusion I would remark that it 

 appears astonishing to some i^eojile that 

 so many Hawks' eggs can be taken in the 

 suburbs of a city of twenty thousand in- 

 habitants with an old and well settled 

 country-side lying around it. But the 

 trained observer cannot fail to observe 

 that many of the rodents and various sorts 

 of birds congregate near large towns, and 

 the ornithologist notes that these and an 

 occasional waif from our poultry yards 

 form the proper food of the young 

 Raptores. The August niimber will con- 

 tain the conclusion of my notes on birds 

 found breeding near Norwich this sea- 

 son, with a few remarks there on. j. m. w. 



Growth of Robins. 

 We have been watching the growth and 

 final departure of a pair of young robins 

 from their nest, not twelve feet from one of 

 oiir chamber windows, in the crotch of a 

 cherry tree, where the same nest has re- 

 mained over several seasons, and seems to 

 be the home of the same pair of robins. 

 The children have been specially interested 

 in the operations of caring for the young 

 birds, and for that reason we devote a part 

 of every day to watching the nest. A 

 strange, and to us a most unexplainable 

 operation, has been exhibited by the male 

 bird. Standing on the edge of the nest, 

 and intently observant of his brood, he 

 suddenly strikes his bill to the cloaca of 

 one of the young ones, who, apparently ex- 

 pecting the stroke, and evidently desiring 

 it, has raised this part by extending his 

 legs, and throwing his hinder parts upward 

 in anticipation of the paternal act which 

 was to follow. A white lump of excrementi- 

 tious matter exudes, which the old bird 

 seizes and apparently swallows. The same 

 operation, immediately succeeded with refer- 

 ence to the other young bird. A few days 



previous I went up on a ladder and lookeJ 

 into the nest, and handled the yoimg birds, 

 then nearly ready to fly. There were no 

 indications inside of the nest of any excre- 

 mentitious matter, but on the trunk of Ihe 

 tree a few inches below, were three white 

 spots which I conchided were caused by 

 droppings from the young birds. We have 

 repeatedly witnessed this act, and never 

 having heard any statement with regard to 

 it, very naturally wish to know if this is 

 done by all birds, or by any other beings, 

 biped or quadruped ; for I am sure that 



scores of human bipeds in N — . B ., 



don't do even one half what that robin did 

 for the sake of cleanliness. I could not 

 ask or desire them to do the whole. I re- 

 member now an old saying, "It's a sorry 

 bird that fouls its own nest," but I never 

 dreamed that any bird could go to such 

 lengths as we saw, or thoixght we saw ; and 

 I still think the material voided was kept 

 in his bill, till he had time to deposit it 

 where it suited liis convenience. The feed- 

 ing of first one young bird and then the 

 other, was a marked routine, though the 

 strongest seemed always to have Ihe best 

 portion, say a vigorous angle worm, while 

 the weaker and smaller of the two gener- 

 ally got only a bug or miller, or a small 

 white insect of a kind not known to us. 



Seven or eight years ago, flocks (,f the 

 Pine Grosbeak were seen here. It was a 

 hard winter, though not so hard as some 

 we have seen since, though no birds of 

 that kind have since been seen here. I 

 killed one, a female, and bought of the man 

 who stuffed her, a splendid male, which 

 he had just killed. They are beaiitiful 

 birds.— Dr. S. W. Hart, N B , Ct. 



Albino. — In the New York Daily Times' 

 of April 20, 1881, is the following curious 

 item : 



"A milk-w^hite, red-breasted robin is ex- 

 citing considerable interest among citizens 

 of Sewickley, Penn., where she has been 

 discovered building a nest, assisted by a 

 male robin of normal color, save that he 

 has a white head." John H. Sage. 



