General Notes. 
103 
morning. Upon my next visit, tlie clay after, she greeted me again with 
hisses and other demonstrations of anger ; and after watching her several 
minutes, during which time she kept up her attitude of defiance, I again 
left her mistress of the situation. The next morning she saluted me 
as before, but being by this time determined to examine the nest I 
inserted a stick, at which she advanced, pecking and hissing vigorously. 
She fought long and well, but might finally prevailed, and she slipped 
out, as she could have done at any time if so inclined, and flew to a 
neighboring tree, from which she watched me with much interest and in- 
dignation. She returned to her nest soon after I had left it. After the 
rough treatment of this occasion, she would invariably leave the nest at 
my approach, doubtless hearing my footsteps, as she could not possibly 
see me. 
Some days after this, I found a pair of these birds building in a low 
stump which stood in a meadow, but I did not remain in the neighbor- 
hood long enough to learn the number of eggs or test the, courage of the 
female while incubating. — L. Belding, Marysville , Gal. 
Persistency in Nest-building by a Pair of City Robins. — Mr. H. 
H. Clark of this city has kindly placed at my disposal some very interest- 
ing observations made by him last season relative to the perseverance dis- 
played by a pair of Robins (Turdus migratorius) at nest-making under 
difficulties. A pair of these birds selected for a nesting-site a place in his 
garden so frequented by cats — the great enemy of town-breeding birds — 
that it seemed certain the young, if not, indeed, the mother-bird, would be 
destroyed by them if the birds were allowed to build in the pl^ce they had 
chosen. So, in order to avoid the threatened danger to the brood, as well 
as the pain of witnessing their destruction, Mr. Clark resolved to inter- 
cept their work, hoping thereby to force them to choose a safer nesting- 
place. He accordingly pulled down their partly formed nest. The next 
morning there was a great outcry from the birds over their loss, and 
no little commotion among the other Robins of the neighborhood. To his 
surprise the birds immediately set to work to rebuild the nest, aided by 
several of their sympathizing neighbors, who brought materials faster than 
the architect seemed able to properly bestow them, so that in a single 
morning considerable progress was made with the new structure. The 
next morning the birds found their nest had been again destroyed. Not a 
whit discouraged, they resumed their labors, building again in the same 
spot as before, but this time without help. The nest was now constructed 
with greater care, being securely fastened by strings passed round the branch 
on which it rested, which were also carried up and made fast to a limb 
above. These precautions availed them nothing, for this nest shared the 
fate of the others. An act begun in a spirit of kindness toward the birds 
was now continued in the interest of scientific investigation. A fourth 
time the persistent birds rebuilt their nest at the same spot, with to them 
