Cambridge, Mass.
1903.
April 29
(No 2)
seemed to be at least 25 or 30 of them but they
were so active and erratic in their movements that
it was impossible to count them. Certainly a dozen
or more were often singing at once and the noise
they made was simply deafening, coming as it did
from a confined space hemmed on two sides by
the walls of the house which threw back the sound.
It was so very loud and confused as to lack all
element of harmony. I watched the birds until all
had settled on their perches for the night. The lilac
leaves are now about 1/2 grown & cast a good shade
although one may easily see the sky through the thickest
portions of the clusters. The excrement shows that
the birds must have been roosting there for some time
- probably a week or more. My interpretation of their
behavior previous to my departure for Washington (on
April 15) is that they found the place so safe and
congenial last year that they were anxious to reoccupy
it this as soon as the foliage was sufficiently advanced
to shelter them from observation & that they visited
it each evening in increasing numbers in the hope
that the leaves has expanded during the day.
  The following evening (that of April 30th) the number
of Robins that came to the roost seemed much increased.
Indeed there were, I think, at least fifty of them 
on this occasion.