3S 
OKNITIIOLOGIST 
[Vol. 6-No. 5 
of this small Aecipiter has never been ful¬ 
ly written, and deserves an entire article 
in this journal, which 1 will try to prepare 
at an early day, unless some more facile 
pen does justice to the subject. 
In conclusion I would remark that it 
appears astonishing to some peo])le that 
so many Hawks’ eggs can l)e taken in the 
suV)urbs of a city of twenty thousand in- 
hal)itants with an old and well settled 
country-side lyi'ug around it. But the 
trained oliserver cannot fail to ol)serve 
that many of tlie rodents and various sorts 
of bii’ds congregate near large towns, and 
the oniithologist notes that these and an 
occasional waif from our poultry-yards 
form the proper food of the young 
Baptores. The August number will con¬ 
tain the conclusion of my notes on birds 
found breeding near Norwich this sea¬ 
son, with a few remarks there on. j. m. w. 
Growth of Robins. 
We have been watching the growth and 
final departure of a pair of young robins 
from their nest, not twelve feet from one of 
our chamber windows, in the crotch of a 
cherry tree, where the same nest has re¬ 
mained over several seasons, and seems to 
be the home of the same pair of robins. 
The children have been specially interested 
in the operations of caring for the young 
birds, and for that reason we devote a part 
of every day to watching the nest. A 
strange, and to us a most unexplainable 
operation, has been exhibited by the male 
bird. Standing on the edge of the nest, 
and intently observant of his brood, he 
suddenly strikes his bill to the cloaca of 
one of the young ones, who, apparently ex¬ 
pecting the stroke, and evidently desiring 
it, has raised this part by extending his 
legs, and throwing his hinder parts upward 
in anticipation of the paternal act which 
was to follow. A white lump of excrementi- 
tious matter exudes, which the old bird 
seizes and apparently swallows. The same 
oi)enition, immediately succeeded with refer¬ 
ence to the other young bird. A few days 
previous I went up on a ladder and lookeil 
into the nest, and handled the young birds, 
i;hen nearly ready to tly. There were no j 
indications inside of the nest of any excre- “ 
mentitious matter, but on the trunk of the i 
u’ee a few inches below, were three white i 
spots which I conchided were caused by 
dro])pings from the young birds. We have 
repeatedly witnessed this act, and never i 
having heard any statement with regard to 
it, very naturally wish to know if this is 
done by all birds, or by any other beings, | 
biped or (juadruped ; for I am sure that 
scores of human bipeds in N—. B- 
don’t do even one half what that robin did 
for the sake of cleanliness. I could not 
ask or desire them to do the whole. I re* 
member now an old saying, ‘Tt’s a sorry 
bird that fouls its own nest,” but I never 
dreamed that any bird could go to such 
lengths as we saw, or thought we saw ; and 
I still think the material voided was kept 
in his bill, till he had time to deposit it 
where it suited his convenience. The feed¬ 
ing of first one young bird and then the 
other, was a marked routine, though the 
strongest seemed ahvays to have the best 
portion, say a vigorous angle worm, while 
the weaker and smaller of the two gener¬ 
ally got only a bug or miller, or a small 
white insect of a kind not known to us. 
Seven or eight years ago, tiocks (-f the 
Phie Grosbeak were seen here. It was a 
hard winter, though not so hard as some 
we have seen since, though no birds of 
that kind have since been seen here. I 
killed one. a female, and bought of the man 
who stuffed her. a splendid m-ale, which 
he had just killed. They are beautiful 
birds.—D k. S. W. H.uit, N-B-. Ct. 
Albino. —In the New York Daily TiiiK^s 
of April 20, 1881, is the following curiouH 
item; 
“A milk-white, red-breasted robin is ex¬ 
citing consideiuble interest among citizens 
of Sewickley, I’enn.. where she has been 
discovered building a nest, assisted by a 
male robin of normal color, save that he 
has a white head. ” John H. S.\ok. 
