53 



CHAPTER XII. 



HE next day found me again in the woods 

 by Melville Island, and on inspecting the 

 robins' nests I discovered that the birds 

 had commenced to lay, there being three 

 eggs in two of the nests, two in another, 

 and one having four. This last nest was 

 the neatest of them all, its situation being 

 the drooping branch of a small hemlock. 

 It was not so. bulky as the nest of our mistle thrush, but 

 similar in construction, the exterior being constructed 

 of small twigs and tassels of green tree-moss {Usnea), 

 while the lining was a neat cup of fine dry grasses ; I 

 noticed also that the nest was secured to the branches 

 with a small quantity of moist loam, while there was 

 the usual intermediate wall of the same in the nest 

 itself. The eggs of the " robin " are unspotted, of a uni- 

 form and rather deep greenish-blue, measuring about 

 i - 10 by -85 inches. 



By May 13 the ruby-throated humming-bird had 

 already accomplished its wonderful journey to the 

 province, as I was shown one which had been sent from 

 Kentville on this date. I was informed that the pre- 

 vious spring one of these beautiful little creatures 

 visited the flower-box in one of the windows of the house 

 I was stopping at and was observed hovering there for 

 some minutes. 



Fine weather on the 14th again took me to my old 

 haunts on the Melville Island inlet, and in the woods 



