274 
precaution in selecting a spot for its nest, for the structure is sometimes built in a very exposed 
part of a tree, so that it may be seen from a distance, or it is located in the corners of rail-fences 
close to a country road, or in the immediate vicinity of a dwelling. Indeed it is never much 
concealed and is one of the most easily found nests. The structure is composed externally of 
grass-blades, plant-stems, bark-strips, moss, and fine rootlets ; then follows a layer of mud which is 
moulded into a smooth cup-shaped cavity lined with dried grasses. The eggs, numbering five 
on an average, are of a uniform, rich, greenish-blue colour, without spots. Only the female sits on 
the eggs, and is not fed by the male, on which account she has to leave the nest for a short time each 
day to look for food. At such times the male stands guard near the nest, singing his finest melodies. 
After about thirteen days brooding the young hatch, and are faithfully cared for and defended by 
both parents. Тһе first brood is usually followed by a second and further south there is often a 
third. During the breeding-season the male is all vigilance and no enemy can easily succeed in 
catching him off his guard. The loud and shrill warning note, which sounds sometimes like 
` ‘chip, chip,’ announces the stealthily approaching Cat, the Skunk snuffing about in the undergrowth, 
as well as the Raccoon roaming about among the boughs, and the Hawk overhead gliding in large 
circles through the air. But the Robin is not content with uttering its screaming call of distress. 
It will courageously attack every intruder as soon as he approaches the nest. Аў the male Robin's 
alarm-note all the Robins nesting in the neighbourhood assemble to take part in the contest. They 
try to frighten and defeat the enemy by screaming loudly, flitting to and fro with great rapidity, 
and going through other manceuvres. Small intruders almost always retreat quickly. While still a 
smallboy in my native State, Wisconsin, I remember once climbing a pine-stump about twelve feet 
high to examine a Robin's nest built on its top. While I was climbing up, the angry pair whizzed 
past my face with loud screaming. ‘The noise at once assembled two or three other pairs, and I was 
soon so courageously and persistently attacked by the birds, some flying right into my face, others 
whirring past loudly snapping their beaks, that I had to jump down and run off at full speed. The 
Robins which nest farthest from man аге, as a rule, the most pugnacious. It is remarkable, but 
easy of explanation, that one may examine a Robin's nest in a garden without the birds being in the 
least angry or uneasy. "Гһеу have doubtless been convinced by experience that no one intends to 
molest them. 
“ Besides the cry of alarm we frequently hear other characteristic notes during the breeding- 
season. ‘ Durick’ and * Tuck-tuck-tuck ' may often be heard. 
“It is during this season that the Robin's truly melodious and pleasing song is loudest. А 
harbinger indeed, it is the first bird to carol from the tree-tops the near arrival of the spring. The 
song, though simple and modest, is not without effect at such a time in the snow-covered, sadly 
silent landscape; it fills desolate nature with indescribably joyous life and gives voice to man's 
longing for the warm, soft, and mild breezes of spring and the odor of opening flowers. The 
Robin's manner of singing is significant. While many of our birds choose а concealed bushy 
spot when they sing, and moreover accompany their song with lively movements, the Robin selects 
an exposed spot, usually the top of a tree, and pours forth its song for hours from this lofty perch. 
It sits quietly, with its bill directed to the sky, and sings most earnestly and persistently early in 
the morning, as soon as the dawn appears in the east, and in the evening long after the fading of the 
bright sunset. I have heard a few sing during the hot hours of June and even of July, but this is a 
departure from the rule. There is great difference in singers: some sing with such excellence that 
they satisfy even the most fastidious hearer; others again are decidedly inferior. 1 have observed 
the finest songsters in the so-called ‘mixed woods’ of Wisconsin, where the music of the gurgling 
springs and gushing brooks, and the weirdly charming whisper in the pines accompanied their songs ; 
the poorest singers I have found in the monotonous * black-jack ” regions of Missouri. Many students 
ШҮ 
b geat da 
ІШ Ф W 
и Це 
ii Ві) 
ШТ 
ns wet 
