AMERICAN ROBIN. 29 
ing for food in spots from which the snow has melted, and enlivens its habitation with 
its powerful music. In the Northern States the whole of April is an inclement, change- 
fal month. It is only in May, a month which often, too, retains traces of winter, that 
our birds of early arrival find favorable weather and abundance of their principal 
insect food. , 
Probably none of our birds has become so esteemed a favorite with the American 
people as the Robin. The pilgrim fathers of Massachusetts called this Thrush the Robin, 
or Robin Redbreast, because it reminded them of the affectionate and beloved Robin of 
their English home. The love of the latter bird together with its name passed over to 
the somewhat similarly colored Thrush of their new country. Hence to this very day 
the people of New England highly prize and in every way protect the Robin. It has, 
thanks to this protection, not only multiplied greatly but has taken up its home in 
numbers in villages and even in cities. Its familiarity, its early arrival from the South, 
its sonorous flute-like song, and its wide distribution have contributed not a little to 
this bird’s favorable reception among us. 
The Robin ranges from the highlands of Mexico to the Arctic regions and from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific.* No other Thrush of the United States has so extended a 
distribution and occurs so regularly and in such numbers as the Robin. A few even go 
to the West Indies and Central America in winter. It has been repeatedly found during 
migration in Europe and in summer it was observed as far north as the inhospitable 
regions of Greenland and on the islands of the Behring Sea. The greater number pass 
the winter in the Gulf States. I have observed them in large flocks in the forests of the 
lowlands of Texas ang in the hummock-woods of Florida, where the fruit of different 
species of holly! and the sparkle-berry? furnish an abundance of food during the whole 
winter. Even in the middle of February I have seen them in great numbers in the 
sugar-cane fields and in the extensive cypress-sswamps of southern Louisiana. During 
mild winters single individuals may be found in protected spots even in New England, 
where they subsist on the remains of wild fruits and berries. More commonly they 
pass the winter in the Middle States. In Wisconsin the Robin is very common every- 
where. In the beautiful, well watered forests of that State the bird is almost as numer- 
ous as in the cultivated districts. In Dlinois and likewise in the southwestern part of 
Missouri and northern Arkansas it is also a common summer resident. In the last 
named localities it arrives, according to the weather, from the beginning to the end of 
February. In the Gulf region the Robin appears only in winter. 
All our Thrushes, with few exceptions, are timid and shy, and shun the society of 
man. Most of them retreat to the deep woodland solitudes far from the abodes of man. 
All this is different with the Robin. Though originally a true forest bird, it has now 
everywhere attached itself to man, and though still retaining its former sagacity and 
vigilance has become quite confiding and fearless. You can find the Robin everywhere, 
in field and forest, in meadow and marsh, on hills and in valleys, in parks and gardens, 
and even high up in the mountains. It may be met with invariably in the woods 
* Merula migratoria proper is found west to the Great Plains; thence to the Pacific it is represented by the variety 
M. migratoria propinqua. 
_1 Hex opaca, I. dahoon, I. myrtifolia. 2 Vaccinium arboreum, the tree-buckleherry. 
