SONG—BIRDS.
of the young from the nest. In the choice of a nesting location they are often extremely stupid. The nest being a combination of clay and sticks, is a rather bulky and weighty affair, yet the birds frequently build it in a spot so exposed that a heavy summer shower will reduce it to pulp; or on so slender a branch that the weight of the growing young cause it to tip over.
Twelve pairs of Robins, that I know of, nested this season in various parts of the garden, some huddled close to the house, or in fruit trees, others in the evergreens, but in addition to these homes I found five nests, some containing eggs, which, though of the season’s building, had been abandoned through hopeless faults of location and construction, and the Robin does not lightly abandon its nest after the eggs are laid, like some other Thrushes and many Warblers.
But with the list of the Robin’s shortcomings before us, the cheery sound of his piping effaces them all, and awakens memories that go back to the very dawn of life. He was the first bird, probably, that we learned to call by name, and every spring he returns as the marshal of the feathered hosts and well sustains the honour.
The American Robin is an entirely different species from the English Robin Redbreast; the latter is a smaller bird of more compact build, with a brilliant red breast, in form resembling our Bluebird.
Bluebird: Siala sialis.
Plate 9.
- Length
- 6.50-7 inches.
- Male
- Azure-blue above. Wings blue with some dark edgings. Breast brick-red, lower parts white. Bill and feet black.
- Female
- Dull blue above. Breast paler and more rusty. Young with speckled breast and back.
- Song
- A sweet plaintive warble, seeming to say, “Dear! dear! think of it, think of it!” Burroughs says it continually calls “Purity, Purity”; in either case the accent is the same.
- Season
- A resident species, though the majority come early in March and retire to the South in late October.
66
