plaster and the lining are invariably the same in every locality and position. The nests average about 
four inches in internal diameter, the external diameter about six inches; the depth of cavity varies from 
one and one-half to two and one-half inches. 
EGGS: 
The complement of eggs is from three to five, usually four. They are “ Robins-egg blue” in color, 
very constant in shade, and have quite a glossy shell. They measure from 1.00 x .71 to 1.20 x .86, 
average 1.12 x .80. They are deposited daily or every other day, and are incubated in fourteen days. 
Occasionally spotted and white eggs are reported as being found, but such eggs are rare. 
DIFFERENTIAL POINTS: 
It may be stated as a rule, that this nest is the only one having a mud plaster and measuring from 
three and one-half to four and one-eighth inches in internal diameter, which contains a lining of bleached 
blades of grass. The nests of the ood Thrush and Bronzed Grackle may be similar in every other 
particular. The egg can not always be distinguished from that of the Wood Thrush, without other data 
than size and color. The egg of the Catbird is greener, and the eggs of the Hermit Thrush and Wilson’s 
Thrush are much smaller. Outside of the Thrush family there are no eggs that resemble the Robin’s, 
without it is an unmarked egg of the Bronzed Grackle. 
REMARKS : 
The nest illustrated was taken on the 19th of May, 1879, from a small elm-tree growing in a field 
near a road. It represents the ordinary position, size, and materials of construction ; the foundation contains 
but little material, this consists of weed-stems and mud ; the superstructure is composed cf finer weed- 
stems, fibres, grasses, a few chicken-feathers, and the usual plaster of mud; the lining is of blades of 
grass, which are very unevenly distributed. 
After the Robin has safely reared her first brood, and freed herself from their care, about a week 
or ten days elapses before ovipositiou is again begun. If a new home is to be built, a limb upon the 
same tree that contained the former nest, or upon one in the near neighborhood, is selected for the site, 
and as much care and pains are taken in its construction as in the first one; but matters are frequently 
compromised by simply placing a new lining in the old structure. The mother-bird is, by close observers, 
said to build the nest unassisted by her mate. The male may now and then bring a stick or straw, but 
she does not permit him to take an active part either as architect or builder. 
Great attachment is exhibited by the Robin to locality, of which many interesting stories might be 
related. The following incident, while illustrating this attachment to place, also shows to some degree 
that faculty which in birds is called instinct, but which, in a higher order of animals, is by courtesy 
termed reason. A Robin built her nest, the last week in March, upon a high shelf in one of the halls 
of a county fair-grounds ; when discovered it contained two eggs. At this time there was snow upon the 
ground. The brood v r as raised in safety, and later a second nest was built in the fork of a maple-tree 
near by. The following year, being curious to know whether the Robins would again occupy the sheltered 
shelf for the early nest, and resort to the tree when this protection was no longer required, I made 
a visit to the hall about the first of April, and sure enough, there was a new nest filled with fresh 
eggs. This brood was reared without accident, and no sooner were the parents relieved of their offspring, 
than a second nest was placed in the same tree as that occupied the previous year. It is worthy of 
remark, that the nests built upon the shelf differed somewhat in their construction from those in the 
tree ; the former contained paper, rags, and coarse wrapping-thread in abundance, making very bulky and 
untidy, but warm homes, while the latter were of the usual materials and quite neat in appearance. 
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