THE ROBIN. 
21 
his door, probably 'with the idea of concealing his nest. With us, 
robin never builds on the ground ; his nest is placed in trees, 
where, from its size, it is very conspicuous ; once in awhile, how- 
ever, he builds about a house, but in such a case usually places 
liis nest in some spot shaded by a vine or the branches of a tree. 
For two summers in succession, we had a nest on a window-sill of 
the second story, and this spring two pairs seem to be building 
about the eaves ; but in all these instances, the spots chosen are 
screened by Virginia creepers. Tlien again with us, robin is only 
musical early in spring ; the rest of the year he is a very silent 
bird. Some few occasionally linger through the cold weather as 
far north as the Mohawk, but this seems accidental ; many take a 
south-eastern direction toward the sea-shore, and many more go 
still farther south to a milder climate. They are with us, how- 
ever, eight or nine months of the year — honest, homely creatures, 
nmning about the grass-plots and paths around our doors, so that 
they are everywhere considered as friends of the house. I have 
',een it asserted that the early colonists gave to the gaudy oriole the 
name of “ English robin,” showing how fondly memory colored all 
they had left behind, since one bird is very plain in his plumage, 
the other remarkably brilliant. The name of robin, however, has 
now attached itself decidedly to the large red-breasted thrush, 
with which we are all familiar ; and although differing in many re- 
spects from the Robin Redbreast of Europe, yet with the name 
he also inherits the favor of his kinsman, getting all the credit in 
this part of the world of watching over the Babes in the Woods, 
picking ben’ies to feed them, and gathering leaves for their cover- 
ing. This afternoon, as we saw the robins running over the gra\ es 
in the churchyard, or perched on a tombstone looking at us with 
