19

1916.

(Robin) not present at the time but examined them shortly
afterwards, asserts that the shells were almost free from yolk
or albumen and evidently had been sucked. A similar fate
attended almost all the nests built in orchard trees early
in the season and was almost certainly due to the same
agency for whenever a Grey Squirrel (we had no Red ones this
year) appeared then, as happened very frequently, he was sure
to be mobbed and followed about by several excited, clamorous
Robins together with other obviously apprehensive small birds.
There was it is true another suspicious character similarly attended
whenever he moved abroad, viz. a gray Screech Owl who spent
his days in our old barn. To what extent he may or may not
have mutilated the Robins by night I cannot say but the first flight
he took in the coming twilight invariably occasioned widespread 
alarm and vehement outcry among all our local nesting birds.
So, also, did those of his mate, a red Owl, of whose presence
with young in a hollow oak close behind the barn I first 
learned on May 26 [May 26, 1916] when about 9.30 A.M., with the sun
shining bright in cloudless sky, she flew past me to the barn
carrying in her bill a small, flesh-coloured object that looked
suspiciously like an unfledged young Robin and may well have
been one taken from a nest with the lining torn out that I
noticed afterwards in an apple tree where the Owl seemed to
have come when first sighted. What with the presumptive
molestation of Owls and Squirrels, together with that of Crows and
Jays, who made frequent stealthy visits to the orchard and those
trees in early morning hours, our farm-nesting Robins had an
exceptionally anxious and trying experience during the crucial part
of the season and to my certain knowledge failed to get any
young on wing until June 18 [June 18, 1916]. After that several broods appeared