ROBIN. 
201 
They are commonly brought up in the cage, and seem very 
docile and content. They sing well, readily learn to imitate 
lively parts of tunes, and some have been taught to pipe forth 
psalms even to so dull and solemn a measure as that of “ Old 
Hundred" ! They acquire also a considerable taste for mim- 
ickry, imitating the notes of most of the birds around them, 
such as the Bluebird, Pewee, Whip-poor-will, and others. On 
being approached with the finger, they usually make some 
show of anger by cracking and snapping the bill. At times 
they become very tame, and will go in and out of the house 
with domestic confidence, feel uneasy when left alone, and on 
such occasions have sometimes the sagacity of calling attention 
by articulating endearing words, as pretty, pretty, etc., connec- 
ting, apparently with these expressions, their general import of 
attentive blandishment. They become almost naked in the 
moulting season, in which they appear to suffer considerably, 
yet have been known to survive for 1 7 years or upwards. The 
rufous color of the breast becomes deeper in those birds which 
thus live in confinement. Their principal song is in the morn- 
ing, and commences before sunrise, at which time it is very 
loud, full, and emphatic. 
The eastern form of this species is not found westward of the 
Great Plains excepting in the far North, where it has been traced 
to the Yukon district of Alaska. From the eastern base of the 
Rockies to the Pacific it is replaced \>y propinqua, a larger, grayer 
variety. 
I have seen large flocks of Robins in New Brunswick during 
some winters, and every year they are more or less common during 
the cold months. These winter birds have much more white on 
their under parts than is seen on specimens taken in the summer, 
and their entire plumage is hoary. They doubtless spend the sum- 
mer much farther north, — probably on the barren lands which 
border the Arctic Ocean, — and are but the northernmost edge of 
that cloud of Robins which every autumn rises from their breeding- 
grounds and sails away southward until, when it has finally settled, 
its ea.stern margin is found stretched from the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
to the West Indies. Throughout this range, embracing as it does 
many variations of climate, Robins may be found in suitable local- 
ities during every winter, — rather rare, sometimes, at the north, 
but increasing in abundance towards the South. 
