98 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



I 



among the branches, and there sounded 

 the rapid "quick! quick!" of alarm 

 from a score or two of robins. But 

 daylight did not reveal the trace of a 

 nest in these pines, and after much 

 watching and debating, I discovered 

 that the birds which congregated there 

 nightly were males, who gathered from 

 sundown until an hour or so after, and 

 roosted while their mates guarded the 

 nests. 



Bradford Torrey has noted this trait 

 at length, with many interesting details, 

 telling of roosts where the robins troop 

 in nightly by hundreds, from a widely 

 extended region; but this roost was in 

 a garden where there were many passers, 

 and seemed like a most exclusive cote- 

 rie, or a very select bit of clubdom. 

 They continued roosting in this way 

 until early July, when, joined by their 

 young, they disappeared for a time. 



