Notes from Field and Study 



109 



The next morning, much to my delight, 

 they both reappeared in the other tree, 

 and in a few minutes decided on a place 

 which was much better than their first 

 choice. Soon they were bringing grass 

 and straw, as before, and by night had 

 the foundation of the nest completed. 



A little girl, who lives in the next 

 house, furnished the birds with nesting 

 material by cutting white twine in short 

 pieces, and the male Robin took it almost 

 as soon as she threw it on the ground. 

 There was a quantity of twine and he 

 evidently thought it a prize as he hurried 

 back and forth and took it all. 



Soon there was a lively discussion be- 

 tween the pair, which ended in a real fight, 

 and then the male Robin took his de- 

 parture. 



I cannot understand bird-talk, but it 

 seemed to me that the female Robin did 

 not like the looks of that white twine, for 

 it made the nest very conspicuous, and 

 being placed in bunches, with the ends 

 hanging, gave the nest a ragged appear- 

 ance. 



The female Robin continued the work 

 alone, pulling out some of the twine and 

 covering some of it up. It was very in- 

 teresting to watch her as she worked. 

 She always worked from the inside, plac- 

 ing her straw or grass where she wanted 

 it, and then pressing against it with her 

 breast to press it into shape. 



The birds began building the nest on 

 the 19th of April, and the female com- 

 pleted it on the 27th. On the 29th the 

 third and last egg was laid. 



After this the female never left the nest 

 except to make a quick trip to a neigh- 

 boring field for food. On rainy days she 

 had no food, and would sit there all day 

 with her wings spread out over the nest in 

 such a way that no water touched it. 



On the tenth day after the eggs were 

 laid the male Robin appeared. He lighted 

 on a branch close to the nest and as soon 

 as the female saw him she rumpled up 

 her feathers and flew away. He went to 

 the edge of the nest, looked in and then 

 flew away, and the female returned. 



On the next day, the loth of May, two 



Robins were hatched, and on the day fol- 

 lowing the third one appeared. They 

 began their clamor for food almost imme- 

 diately. 



When the young were two days old the 

 male came with some worms in his mouth. 

 He didn't appear at all good natured and 

 fairly pushed the female, who had rumpled 

 up her feathers, out of the nest. His 

 manner seemed to say, "I suppose that 

 these are my children, and that I have got 

 to feed them." He kept coming with 

 worms, and after a few days the female 

 would stand on the edge of the nest when 

 she saw him coming, take some of the 

 worms from him, when they fed the little 

 ones together. 



Early one morning I was awakened by 

 a great outcry from the birds. I rushed 

 to the window and there was a neighbor's 

 cat within a few inches of the nest. I 

 succeeded in frightening the cat away, 

 and although I made quite a commotion, 

 the birds acted as if they knew it was 

 being done by a friend to help them. 

 That morning the boy who owned the 

 cat got a wide piece of tin large enough 

 to go around the tree and we tacked it 

 on, so the birds had no more trouble 

 with cats in that way. But in a day or 

 two one of the little ones fell from the 

 nest and the same cat caught and ate 

 him. 



When the young Robins were nearly 

 large enough to fly their mother left them 

 one day to hunt for worms, but she never 

 came back again, as a cat caught her. 

 On the 26th of May, when they were sixteen 

 days old, the little Robins left their nest 

 for the first time. They hopped out on 

 a branch by the side of the nest, and, 

 after looking about for awhile, flew across 

 the street into another tree and then on to 

 the ground. 



Every one in the neighborhood had been 

 very much interested in the birds, and 

 word immediately went around that the 

 young birds had left the nest and cats 

 must be kept shut in. In a day or two 

 they were taking care of themselves like 

 old birds. — Anna A, Jordan, Bethel, 

 Maine. 



