1 8 Twelve Months With 



"Have I fainted, have I doubted, 

 In the days that have gone by? 

 Have I said 'There is no rising 

 Unto mortals when they die?' 

 It is past, that blind self-wounding. 

 I have heard the robin sing, 

 I have caught the Easter message. 

 In the first breath of the spring." 



The well known feeding habits of the robin, 

 in running through the grass and pulling earth 

 worms out of the sod, is very vividly, as well as 

 amusingly, told by Katherine Van D. Harkee in 

 the following stanzas: 



"Abstracted, contemplative air, 

 A sudden run and stop, 

 A glance indifferent round about. 

 Head poised — another hop. 



A plunge well-aimed, a backward tug, 



A well-resisted squirm, 

 Then calm indifference as before, 



But oh, alack, the worm!" 



Any one who has seen a robin feeding will vouch 

 for the dramatic accuracy of this description. 



Almost three weeks after the nest on the win- 

 dow ledge was commenced, another pair of robins 

 began building a nest on a telephone pole about 

 fifty feet from my back porch. The father robin 

 in the window ledge family must be an attractive 

 fellow among the females, and a charming singer. 



