Plate VIIL 



TURDU8 MIGRATORIUS-Robin. 



In the fall of the year Robins assemble in hu'gc flocks and wander about the country until the 

 approaching cold season drives some to the Southern States, and others to the thickest timber-lands, 

 where they seek protection and food throughout the winter. About the first of March they return to 

 their accustomed summer resorts, and if a few warm days occur at this time, some birds, either braver 

 or more foolish than their companions, begin to build; but commonly nesting does not commence until 

 May. Two broods and sometimes three are raised during the season, so that as late as August nests 

 and eggs may be found, 



LOCALITY: 



There is no pasture too bare, no woods too thick, no town too smoky, for this cosmopolitan. Wherever 

 a proper food-supply for the young can be obtained, there the Robin may build her nest, seeming to care 

 little whether it be placed in the drooping branches of the willow overhanging the river, the oak upon 

 the hill-top, or the shade-tree upon the busy thoroughfare. 



POSITIOIS^: 



The nest is generally situated in a stout perpendicular fork, or placed upon a horizontal limb; if this 

 limb is small the nest is built where little branches will support its sides. These two positions are the 

 common and normal ones, but it is not rare to find a nest built in some small bush or climbing vine, 

 or upon the flat top of a stump, a shelving rock, a fence post or rail, or some such place, either natural 

 or artificial ; these departures from the usual positions arc most frequently met with early in the season. 

 The usual height of the nest from the ground is between ^vq and fifteen feet, but it may be as high as 

 fifty feet, or' sometimes directly upon the ground. 



MATERIALS : 



The foundation of the nest in the country consists of coarse weed-stems, grasses, mud, and occa- 

 sionally sticks and leaves; the mud is most abundant when the supporting surface is horizontal. The 

 superstructure is composed of weed-stems, grasses, straws, fibres, and mud ; the latter thoroughly covers 

 the inside, and is Avorked into a firm wall by the feet and breast of the bird, and. nicely rounded about 

 the rim by the bill; in a typical nest this mud forms a perfect bowl. The lining is composed of well- 

 selected blades of bleached grass, some of which may bo firmly attached to the plaster if it was not 

 thoroughly dry Avhcn they were placed in position. The grasses are most abundant at the bottom of the 

 cavity, becoming fewer as the rim is approached, where the mud is always distinctly visible. 



The nests built in cities, towns, or in the immediate neighborhood of country dwellings, often contain 

 in their foundations and superstructures, besides the materials mentioned above, any rubbish which is 

 accessible and pleases the fancy of the builder, such as strings, rags, yarn, paper, feathers, and cotton ; but the 



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