and the words might apply equally to the American robin, for the bird loves to 

 nest not only in our gardens but in our cemeteries and upon our very houses. 



Often a robin will select a corner of the porch, a nook under the eaves, or 

 even go inside of the building itself. Recently one is reported to have flown in at 

 the open window of a church during service and to have begun to build his nest 

 on a cornice just over the pulpit. The window was left partly open from that time 

 on and the family of young robins was successfully reared in this admirable 

 sanctuary. 



The nesting robins may be assisted by providing nesting sites ; a shelf up under 

 the eaves will often tempt them, or a sheltered platform set on the limb of a tree. 

 If there is a trellis in the garden on which a rambler rose-bush or honeysuckle 

 climbs, one of these sheltered shelves set at the top of it forms an admirable site 

 for a robin's nest. One can assist also by putting out nesting material. In the case 

 of the robin the first requisite is mud — good, plain, old-fashioned, black sticky mud, 

 for the robin makes the foundation of his nest invariably of this. In sandy coun- 

 tries and dry weather the birds often have considerable difficulty in getting mud 

 for their foundation. In one of her books Olive Thorne Miller tells of a robin 

 that wet his feathers, then rolled in the dust and went to the nesting site, where 

 he picked the resultant mud from his plumage and used it for the foundaion of 

 his nest. 



Most of us nowadays have a bird bath in the yard and it is an easy thing to 

 put a dish of clay or loamy soil beside this and moisten it to the right consistency. 

 The robin will come and take it by the mouthful — poor chap, he has no other 

 meansof g ettingi t — and begin the nest,, perhaps on the porch, but more likely on 

 the near-by shade tree. Usually the mud is built up like a shallow cup and then 

 soft grasses — dried grasses of the previous year's growth — are embedded in it 

 and killfully built around until the completed structure is mud below, but softly 

 lined and built up with these grasses. From that time until the eggs are hatched 

 the less human oversight and interference the better, although the brooding mother 

 bird will be very fearless as the process of incubation continues, but after the 

 young are hatched out a gentle friendliness wisely offered will be well received and 

 appreciated. 



The task of feeding a nestful of young robins is a great one. Every one of 

 them will eat at least its own weight in insect food daily. Earthworms, rolled in 

 grit, are well liked by the youngsters. Cutworms, inchworms, mealw^orms — almost 

 any soft-bodied, non-hairy caterpillars may be given freely. Nor need one have 

 any fear that the family will be pauperized by any such charity. This feeding will 

 help the youngsters to grow up with very friendly feelings tow^ard the human 

 family and in no other way can you so readily gain the confidence of the parent 

 birds. 



Oftentimes disaster overtakes a robin family ; for some reason the parent birds 

 do not return to the nest and then the human neighbors must take charge of the 

 young. 



666 



