40 



Wild Birds. 



One Robin at the age of eleven days left the fanaily circle early on August 13th, and 

 at nine o'clock the two which remained were standing up and flapping their wings. The 

 old birds would come near, displaying tempting morsels in their bills, but with no intention 

 of feeding their young so long as they remained on the nest. By such tantalizing meth- 

 ods they soon drew them away. Both old and young hung about the apple trees for sev- 

 eral days, when they disappeared and were not seen again. 



Fig. 29. Female Robin brooding on a hot day — her left wing pushed up by a young bird. 



At the stage of flight the young Robins have several distinct call and alarm notes 

 like those of the adult birds. They can take short, low flights, can hop briskh', and go 

 to cover instinctively whether with or without warnings. The}' will also lie quiet in the 

 grass, as in hiding, a common instinctive act. 



The second family of Robins nested high in an oak, and whenever the)' were ap- 

 proached the old birds made an admirable show of pugnacity, scolding, screaming, erect- 

 ing their feathers, snapping their bills and darting straight at your head. Their nesting 

 branch was taken from the woods to a bare, open field, and set up sixty feet from 

 the tree in the way already described. The first morning's experience was rather dis- 

 couraging, for neither bird would come to its nest while the tent was in front of it. They 



