Photo by A. Iv. Princehorn 



ROBIX AXl) XEST (SHE PAGE 6/3) 



Tiuvard the last of June tlic young of the first lirood, with the old mates, resort in 

 numliers nightly to a roosting place. These roosts are generally in deciduous second growths, 

 usually in low, but sometimes on high ground. The females are now occupied with the cares 

 of a second family, and the males are said to return each day to assist them in their duties. 

 Rarly in September, when the nesting season is over, robins gather in large flocks, and from 

 this time until their departure for the South roam about the country in search of food, taking" 

 in turn wild cherries, dogwood and cedar berries. The songs and call-notes of the robin, 

 while well known to every one, are in reality understood by no one, and offer excellent sub- 

 jects f(ir the student of bird language. Its notes express interrogation, suspicion, alarm, 

 caution, and its signals to its companions to take wing; indeed, few of our birds have a more 

 extended \"i ic.'ibular\'. 



arc an\' otlier animals.* They roam the 

 earth from pole to pole; they are equally 

 at home on ;i wave-washed coral reef or 

 in an arid desert, amid arctic snows or 

 in the shades of a tropical fnrest. This 

 is dtie not alone to their ])OA'ers of flight, 

 hut tri their ;idaptal)ilit\' to ^•ar^•ing con- 

 ditions iif life. .VlthoU£;"h, as I have said. 



*r)n the distributinn of animals read .\llen. 

 The Gengraphical Distribution of North Amer- 

 ican Mammals, Bulletin of the American Mu- 

 seum of X'atural History (New ^'ork city), iv, 

 1X92, pp. I99-2_|4; four maps. Allen, The Cco- 

 graphical Tjrif^ln and Distribution of North 

 .American Birds Considered in Relation to 

 Faunal .\reas of North America, The ."-Vuk 

 (New "^"ork cit\-), x, 1893, pp. 97-150: two 

 maps. A'lerriam, The Geographic Distribution 

 of Life in North America, with Special Ref- 

 erence t() Mammalia, Proceedings of the Bio- 

 logical Societx- of Washington, vii, 1892, p]). 

 1-64: one maji. Merriam, Laws of Tempera- 

 ture Control of the Geographic Distribution of 

 Terrestrial Animals and Plants, N.\Tiox.\i, 

 GKor.K/M'ii ic M Ai'„\7,i Ni; (Washingtmi), vi, 1894, 

 pj). 22')-_'38; three maps. 



birfls are more closely related auKing- 

 themseh'es than arc the members of 

 either of the other higher groups of ani- 

 mals, and all birds agree in possessing 

 the more important distinguishing char- 

 acters of their class, vet thev show a 

 wide range of variaticin in structure. 



This, in most instances, is closel)' re- 

 lated to ha])its, which in birds are doubt- 

 less more varied than in anv of the otlier 

 higher animals. Some birds, like pen- 

 gitins, are so aquatic that they are prac- 

 tically helpless on laud. Their wings are 

 ton small to su]>port them in the air, liut 

 the)' l"ly tinder \\-ater with great rapidity, 

 and might be termed feathered ])orpoises. 

 ( )tliers, lik'e the ostrich, are terrestrial, 

 and can neither i-l\' nor swim. Others 

 still, like the frigate-birds, are aerial. 

 Their sm,all feet are of use only in perch- 

 ing, and their home is in the air. 



If, now, we should compare specimens 

 of penguins, ostriches, and frigate-birds 



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