Pike UBON BULLETIN 
Published Quarterly by the 
ioe NeO LS) AULD UB ON, S80 C bE yY 
2001 NorTH CLARK STREET, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 
Number 50 June, 1944 
The Robins of Interpont 
By MARGARET MorRSE NICE 
NOTABLE ROBINS NESTED with us in Columbus, Ohio, some marked with 
colored bands, some distinguished by forceful character. Fancy Legs and 
Honey Locust, Ruby and Emerald, Victoria and Albert, were familiar 
friends, while others that had no names accepted or rejected foster-egg's 
we gave them. 
On March 18, 1929, a male robin with a white V on his breast was 
singing in our big honey locust just north of the house; he had many soft, 
wheezy notes, as if his voice had failed. The next day he sang almost all 
day, part of the time from the ground. On the 20th I noted: 
“Honey Locust looks the same and sings from the same places, but he 
has given up the throaty notes. There are many robin fights in our garden 
this morning, and not much singing. 
“In the afternoon two males are running about in the garden. One 
enters the trap out of sheer curiosity, for it contains no food but bird seed. 
I carry him into the house and band him with a large red band on each leg, 
Janet helping me. He said nothing, but he did peck Janet. We called him 
Fancy Legs. 
“Mar. 21. Fancy Legs is sitting quietly on the bird bath. He is not 
Honey Locust. 
“Mar. 22. A great many battles today and yesterday. There are far 
too many robins here; there simply is not room enough for them all. 
“Mar. 23. Fancy Legs is in the garden this morning. Many fights.” 
The next days were more peaceful. On the 27th I saw an astonishing 
sight: 
“Fancy Legs is getting nesting material! I saw him with a mass of 
stuff fly to the southwest beam under the roof of the bungalow next door. 
There he stayed a few minutes, then flew down to the feeding shelf with 
the material tangled in his feet. He ate a raisin, then hurried off as an- 
other male appeared. I never knew of a male robin building independently, 
although last year both of the Cherry Pair worked busily side by side. 
“Mar. 28. Fancy Legs has nesting material near the feeding shelf; 
flies south with it, another robin following. Can it be that Fancy Legs is 
a female? 
“Fancy Legs must be a female after all. Her breast is bright, her 
head black, her back dark, but not quite so dark as that of her mate. If 
he had been banded I would not have made this mistake. She is busy this 
morning getting mouthfuls of dead grass and fine strips from weed stalks.” 
On the 30th this handsome lady carried mud to her home, accompanied 
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