S6 Handbook of Nature-Study 



to be stuffed, and the two parents work very hard to fill it. Both parents 

 feed the young and often the father feeds the mother bird while she is 

 brooding. Professor Treadwell experimented with young robins and 

 found that each would take 68 earthworms daily; these worms if laid 

 end to end would measure about 14 feet. Think of 14 feet of earthworm 

 being wound into the httle being in the nest, no wonder that it grows so 

 fast! I am convinced that each pair of robins about our house has its 

 own special territory for hunting worms, and that any trespasser is 

 quickly driven off. The young bird's eyes are unsealed when they are 

 from six io eight days old, and by that time the feather tracts, that is, 

 the place where the feathers are to grow, are covered by the spine-like 

 pin-feathers ; these feathers push the down out and it often clings to their 

 tips. In eleven days the birds are pretty well feathered; their wing 

 feathers are fairly developed but alas, they have no tail feathers! When 

 a young robin flies from the nest he is a very uncertain and tippy young- 

 ster not having any tail to steer him while flying, nor to balance him when 

 alighting. 



It is an anxious time for the old robins when the young ones leave the 

 nest, and they flutter about and scold at any one who comes in sight, so 

 afraid are they that injury will come to their inexperienced young ones; 

 for some time the parents care for the fledglings, solicitously feeding them 

 and giving them warnings of danger. The young robin shows in its 

 plumage its relation to the thrush family, for it is yellowish and very 

 spotted and speckled, especially the breast. The parents may raise 

 several broods, but they never use the same nest for two consecutive 

 broods, both because it may be infested with parasites and because it is 

 more or less soiled; although the mother robin works hard to keep it 

 clean, carrying away all waste matter in her beak and dropping it. 

 Robins do not sing much after the breeding season is over until after they 

 have molted. They are fond of cherries and other pulp fruits and often 

 do much damage to such crops. The wise orchardist will plant a few 

 Russian mulberry trees at a reasonable distance from his cherry trees, 

 and thus, by giving the robins a fruit which they like better, and which 

 ripens a little earlier, he may save his cherries. It has been proven con- 

 clusively that the robins are far more beneficial than damaging to the 

 farmer; they destroy many noxious insects, two-thirds of their food the 

 entire year consisting of insects; during April and May they do a great 

 work in destroying cutworms. 



The robins stay with us later than most migrating birds, not leaving 

 us entirely before November. Their chief enemies in northern climates 

 are cats, crows and squirrels. Cats should be taught to let birds alone 

 (see lesson on cat) or should be kiUed. The crows have driven the robins 

 into villages where they can build their nests under the protection of 

 man. If crows venture near a house to attack the robins, firing a gun at 

 them once or twice will give them a hint which they are not slow to take. 

 The robins of an entire neighborhood will attack a nest-robbing crow, but 

 usually too late to save the nestlings. The robins can defend themselves 

 fairly well against the red squirrel unless he steals the contents of the nest 

 while the owners are away. There can be no doubt that the same pair of 

 robins return to the same nesting place year after year. On the Cornell 

 Campus a robin lacking the white tip on one side of his tail was noted 

 to have returned {o the same particular feeding ground for several years; 



