104 
General Notes. 
the same sad result. For the fifth time they began to rebuild the nest ; 
this was too much for my informant’s feelings to resist, and he resolved to 
let them carry out their plans. To his surprise, however, they soon began 
to destroy the structure themselves, taking the materials to a branch 
higher up, as if divining not only the source of their troubles, but the rea- 
son that had prompted the repeated removal of their nest ; but after a 
morning’s work the nest was abandoned, and another site for it was se- 
lected some rods away in a safer position. Here again, however, they 
later came to grief, their eggs being taken by a ruthless boy, an habitual 
robber of bird’s-nests. 
The interesting points here brought out are the tenacity with which this 
pair of Robins adhered to their chosen nesting-place ; the concerted action 
of their sympathizing neighbors in aiding them at first to rebuild ; the 
later greater care they displayed in more firmly attaching the nest to its 
resting-place ; and finally the apparently intelligent recognition of the 
source and cause of their troubles, and voluntary choice of a safer location. 
— J. A. Allen, Cambridge , Mass. 
Deadly Combat between an Albino Robin and a Mole. — The 
following interesting and curious incident is quoted from a letter received 
by me from Miss Maria R. Audubon, granddaughter of the celebrated 
naturalist, dated Newark, N. J., February 4, 1878. — Ruthven Deane. 
“ We have had a Robin of the albino type which for two years has built its 
nest in the same tree, and devoured an immense number of worms from the 
lawn around the house. It became quite tame, and we naturally felt a sort of 
ownership in it. One morning I saw something moving or jumping on the 
ground just under the tree, and on investigation it proved to be the Robin 
engaged in deadly combat with a mole. I tried to drive the Robin away, and 
found the mole had it firmly held by the wing. I set it free, and poked the 
mole off with a stick to some distance 
The Robin flew to a branch of the tree, did not seem much hurt, plumed 
itself, and finally disappeared among the foliage ; the mole, too, made off in an 
unknown direction. I could find no reason for this unusual battle ; no corpses 
of young Robins could be seen to make feasible the suggestion that a fledgling 
had fallen from the nest and been attacked by the mole, thereby bringing 
down the wrath of the parent bird ; we knew the mole had not climbed the 
tree, and we had never heard of a Robin eating a mole. 
“ Neither party was seen again that day till towards evening, when the 
Robin was again on the lawn as usual. The next morning I passed the tree 
about the same hour as on the previous day, and there lay the mole and the Robin, 
‘ beautiful in death,’ to use a poetic license, for they really looked very unpleas- 
ant. Their bodies Avere not cold ; the Robin very much ruffled as to plumage 
and bloody about the throat and under the right wing ; the mole with his glossy 
coat 4 all the wrong way,’ and severely pecked about the head and throat. 
There was no life in either after I found them.” 
