1 86 



AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



may join his brothers who are becoming more and more proficient in 

 the use of their wings. 



The female Robin had a marked path of approach to the nest and she 

 hardly ever varied her route even to the fractional part of an inch. 

 From the telephone wire, her next stop was on a hitching post in front 

 of the house ; thence to the end railing of the piazza, then to the front 

 and lastly to the nest. She always lit in just the same places on 

 the wire and piazza railings. Fig. 6 shows her just as she hopped to 

 the front railing and Fig. 3 just as she is to fly up to the nest with a 

 large worm. The diet of this lot of little ones was almost wholly one 

 of worms and mulberries. These latter were mostly green ones, but 

 they seemed to have no ill effects on the young birds. Before the 

 young left the nest her only enemies were the ever present English 

 Sparrows, who always remind me of the street-corner loafer, always 

 looking for trouble, and generally finding it either in fights among 

 themselves or with other birds. A number of times several of these 

 sparrows were seen to waylay the Robin as she was bringing food to 

 the nest, and as soon as she dropped it to defend herself, one of them 

 would grab and make off, another instance in the long series of crimes 

 proven against these birds, that will sooner or later cause their destruc- 

 tion. 



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Fig. 6 



Photo by C A. Reed.. 



