42 NATUBE-STUDY LESSONS. 



2$. After the young leave the nest do they ever return 

 to it? 



26. How long do the parent birds continue to care for 

 them? 



27. How many broods of young are raised in a season ? 

 G. Their Migration. 



28. Register the date when they leave for the south 

 and compare it with the time other birds leave. 



29. Which of the robins goes first, the male or the 

 female ? 



The robin likes to be near man. It usually builds its nest near a house. 

 It is to this characteristic that it owes its name. When the first English 

 settlers on this continent saw this friendly bird with a breast colored some- 

 what like the favorite of their far-away home, they gave it the name robin, 

 though the two birds are really quite unlike except a general resemblance 

 in color. 



XIII.-THE SNAKE. 

 Snakes are beautiful, graceful animals. Most of the 

 North American species are harmless ; indeed, all except 

 the rattlesnakes, massasaugas, copperheads and harle- 

 quins are so. There is no authentic report of any other 

 venomous snake in Ontario than the rattlesnake. Garter- 

 snakes, green-snakes, water-snakes, racers, milk-snakes 

 and blowing-adders have no poison fangs, and living as 

 they do largely on insects and field mice, they are gener- 

 ally useful to the agriculturist and should be protected. 

 That they sometimes eat the gardener's friends, the toads 

 and young birds, are almost the only charges that can be 

 laid against them. 



Confine a garter or other harmless snake in a box having a wire-net lid. 

 A box with such a lid and without a bottom, resting on a separate board for 

 a bottom, is best. In such a box it is easily kept clean. The snake will 

 appreciate a handful of fresh grass or leaves now and again. 



