THE AMERICAN ROBIN. 219 



No. 98. 



AMERICAN ROBIN. 



A. O. U. No. 761. Merula migratoria (Einn.). 



Description. — Adult male: Head black, interrupted by white of chin and 

 white with black stripes of throat; eyeHds and a supraloral spot white; tail 

 blackish with white terminal spots on inner webs of outer pair of rectrices ; wings 

 dusky except on external edges; remaining upper parts grayish slate; below, — 

 breast, sides, upper belly and lining of wings cinnamon-rufous; lower belly and 

 crissum white, touched irregularly with slate; bill yellow with blackish tip; feet 

 blackish with yellowish soles. Adult female: Similar to male, but duller; black 

 of head veiled by brownish. Adults in winter: Upper parts tinged with brown, 

 the rufous feathers, especially on belly, with white skirtings. Immature : Simi- 

 lar to adult, but head about the color of back; rufous of under parts paler or 

 more ochraceous. Very young birds are black spotted, above and below. Length 

 about 10.00 (254.) ; wing 5.08 (129.) ; tail 3.75 (95.3) ; bill .78 (19.8). 



Recognition Marks. — "Robin" size; cinnamon-rufous breast; everybody 

 knows the Robin. 



Nest, a thick-walled but shapely bowl of mud, set about with twigs, leaves, 

 string, and trash, and lined with fine grass-stems ; placed anywhere in trees or 

 variously, but usually at moderate heights. Eggs, 4 or 5, sometimes 6, greenish 

 blue, unmarked. Av. size, 1.15 x .79 (29.2 x 20.1). 



General Range. — Eastern United States to the Rocky Mountains, including 

 Mexico and Alaska. Breeds from Virginia and Kansas northward to the Arctic 

 Coast. Winters from southern Canada and the Northern States (irregularly) 

 southward. Casual in Bermuda. Accidental in Europe. 



Range in Ohio. — Abundant summer resident. Casual during winter 

 throughout the state. 



MANY birds bear the epithet American to distinguish them from simi- 

 lar old world species, but none bear it more worthily nor more proudly than 

 the American Robin. Having only a superficial resemblance to the English 

 Redbreast or "Robin Redbreast" (Erithacus rubecula), from which it was 

 originally named, our sturdy bird is an unmistakable "bird o' freedom," and 

 as such is beloved from Boston Bay to the Golden Gate, and from the Gulf 

 to the Forty-ninth parallel — and beyond. With Bluebird alone does Robin 

 divide the honors of early spring, and it is nip and tuck between these friendly 

 rivals which shall first proclaim the glad tidings of winter's downfall. 



Sometime in February the first migrant Robins usually pass our southern 

 border, and press on with squeeches and pipings of delight to reclaim posses- 

 sion of the old haunts. It is not quite clear whether the first migrants are those 

 which pass furthest north, or whether the birds move up by successive waves, 

 each wave outstripping its predecessor and sweeping over the heads of the 



