AMERICAN ROBIN. 193 



Wherever it may happen to be placed, the nest is large and well 

 secured. It is composed of dry leaves, grass, and moss, which are con- 

 nected internally with a thick layer of mud and roots, lined with pieces 

 of straw and fine grass, and occasionally a few feathers. The eggs are 

 from four to six, of a beautiful bluish-green, without spots. Two broods 

 are usually raised in a season. 



The young are fed with anxious care by their tender parents, who, 

 should one intrude upon them, boldly remonstrate, pass and repass by 

 rapid divings, or, if moving along the branches, jerk their wings and tail 

 violently, and sound a peculiar shrill note, evincing their anxiety and 

 displeasure. Should you carry off their young, they follow you to a Con- 

 siderable distance, and are joined by other individuals of the species. 

 The young, before they are fully fledged, often leave the nest to meet 

 their parents, when coming home with a supply of food. The family of 

 Robins which I have grouped in the plate exhibits such an occurrence. 



During the pairing season, the male pays his addresses to the female 

 of his choice frequently on the ground, and with a fervour evincing the 

 strongest attachment. I have often seen him, at the earliest dawn of a 

 May morning, strutting around her with all the pomposity of a pigeon. 

 Sometimes along a space of ten or twelve yards, he is seen with his tail 

 fully spread, his wings shaking, and his throat inflated, running over the 

 grass and brushing it, as it were, until he has neared his mate, when he 

 moves round her several times without once rising from the ground. 

 She then receives his caresses. 



Many of these birds shew a marked partiality to the places they have 

 chosen to breed in, and I have no doubt that many who escape death in 

 the winter, return to those loved spots each succeeding spring. 



The flight of the Robin is swift, at times greatly elevated and capable 

 of being long sustained. During the periods of its migrations, which are 

 irregular, depending upon the want of food or the severity of the weather, 

 it moves in loose flocks over a space of several hundred miles at once, and 

 at a considerable height. From time to time a few shrill notes are heard 

 from different individuals in the flock. Should the weather be calm, their 

 movements are continued during the night, and at such periods the whist- 

 ling noise of their wings is often heard. During heavy falls of snow and se- 

 vere gales, they pitch towards the earth, or throw themselves into the woods, 

 where they remain until the weather becomes more favourable. They not 

 unfrequently disappear for several days from a place where they have 



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