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southward again. Usually, however, it will remain in spite of the wintry garment covering nature, 
searching for food in spots from which the snow has melted, and enlivening its habitation with its 
powerful music. In the Northern States the whole of April is an inclement, changeful 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 
е ‘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 greater number pass the winter in the Gulf States. I have observed them in large flocks 
in the forests of the lowlands of Texas and 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-swamps 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 everywhere. In the beautiful, well-watered forests of that 
State the bird is almost as numerous as in the cultivated districts. In Illinois and likewise in the 
south-western 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. АП 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 where the trees and undergrowth are not too dense. Тһе Robin's 
favorite haunts, however, are districts where woods and fields alternate, and where there are 
orchards and swampy meadows. It breeds even in wooded swamps, especially where evergreens 
and deciduous trees grow together. In the cultivated parts of the entirely tree-less western prairies 
the Robin has become abundant since orchards were planted. 
“In Wisconsin and other Northern States the Robin will begin to build its nest as early as the 
middle of April, providing the weather is fair. In south-western Missouri it commences as early as 
the end of March. I have found the nests at a height of from two to thirty feet from the ground, in 
the most various positions and situations ; on trees, on high stumps, in the roots matted together with 
soil of trees prostrated by storms, in corners of rail-fences, on rafters and under the eaves of old and 
uninhabited log cabins, in sheds and old barns, on all kinds of fruit and ornamental trees, in bowers 
formed by the wild grape and other climbing plants, &c. With decided preference it selects a 
nesting site in the dense coniferous trees now so generally used in ornamental gardening. It 
probably chooses such places because the nest is more protected from cats than in other situations. 
It is remarkable that such an intelligent bird as the Robin does not always display the necessary 
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