26 ^ BIRDS 



dation of the nest and pellets of mud in their bills for the 

 inner walls (which they cleverly manage to smooth into a 

 bowl shape without a mason's trowel), and fine grasses for 

 the lining, they saddle it on to the limb of an old apple 

 tree. They prefer low-branching orchard or shade trees 

 near om- homes to the tall, straight shafts of the forest. 

 Some have the courage to build among the vines or under 

 the shelter of our piazzas. A pair of robins reared a brood 

 in a little clipped bay tree in a tub next to a front door, 

 where people passed in and out continually. Doubtless 

 very many birds would be glad of the shelter of our com- 

 fortable homes for theirs if they could only trust us. 

 Robins, especially, need a roof over their heads and a 

 house for them need have no sides, merely a roofed-over 

 shelf. When they foolishly saddle their nest on to an ex- 

 posed limb of a tree, the first heavy rain is likely to soften 

 the mud walls, and wash apart the heavy, bulky struct- 

 ure, when 



"Down tumble babies and cradle and all." 



There are far too many tragedies of the nests after every 

 heavy spring rain. 



Too much stress is laid on the mischief done by the 

 robins in the cherry trees and strawberry patches, and too 

 little upon the quantity of worms and insects they devour. 

 Professor Treadwell, who experimented upon some young 

 robins kept in captivity, learned that they ate sixty-eight 

 earthworms daily — "that is, each bird ate forty-one per 

 cent, more than its own weight in twelve hours! The 

 length of these worms, if laid end to end, would be about 

 fourteen feet. Man, at this rate, woxild eat about seventy 

 pounds of flesh a day, and drink five or six gallons of 



