Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1885-05-15
whore she RoBin Goes IN winter.

OF all our birds probably not one Is better
known than the robin, nor is any other more
generally favorite, unless 1t be the sweet
voiced bue-bird The robin comes to US
with the first warm spring days, soon be
comes a familiar tenant of our lawns, gar
dens and orchards, nesting conhdingy IN the
shrubbery of our yards and gardens. His
summer life his rude but substantial nest of
mud and dried grass his blue eggs, and his
melodious song, all this is well known to
every one But his winter life-who can tell
us OF that In our Northern states little is
seen Of Robin from November till March.
But Just where and how be passes the long
winter-how many can tell ooh says
every one, she goes south Yes but how
far, and where Unlike many of our sum
mer birds, which leave us in winter, the rob
in il able to bear a severe degree of cold.
With him it is the food question that deter
mines his winter wanderings. 1t is not gen
orally known that little hooks of robins regu-
larry pass the winter in various parts of New
EnglAnd-even as far north as Maine and the
British provinces. They seek out sheltered
haunts where cedar and other winter berries
abound, and bid defiance to SHOWS and a de-
gree Of cold we should little expect them to
be able to endure Probably they never Sc
riously suffer from the incemeucy Of the
season so long as food is plenty. But the To-
Ghlllltb hulCu IuIulhu LuAh III WlnttE III the
Northern states are not numerous nor are
they usually often visited 10y man. 1t now
and then happens that when their accustom-
ed wild fruits fail them, the robins visit our
towns and the outskirts of cities, where they
regale themselves on the berries of the noun
tain ash till, the supply exhausted. they are
forced to seek new feasting grounds They
are not the untimey and foolish visitors from
the South that they are generally supposed
to be. They have simply left their winter
resorts in the swRmps or the sheltered Clens
Of the mountain side.
The robin is. however. a truly migratory
bird The little parties which now and then
we see in winter are not those which lived in
summer in our lawns and orchards. The lat.
ter are far away In the sunny South. These
winter visitors are the summer robins Of the
far North for IN summer the robin spreads
over the whole northern part OF the CONT
nent, almost TO the Arctic regions. The rob
ms that first come to us in the spring have
spent the winter in the Middle states They
make us but transient visit, and pass on
northward to their own summer homes, while
their place is filled later by our own summer
birds. which may have spent the winter far
south.
In their winter hRunts in the South the
robins gather at times in immense focks
particularly at their favorte roustng places
in the dense cRne-brakes Nor are they at
such times always exempt from persecution
from human foes. At these cane-brAke rob
in roosts" the birds assemble, many of them
coming from long distances, between five
O'Clock in the afternoon and dark, till the
cane-brake Is alive with them. At night,
under cover of darkness the ''roosts" are
visited by parties of men and boys from the
surrounding country, armed with sticks by
whom hundreds and even thousands are some
times ruthlessly killed in a single night No
bird-aws here afford the robins protection,
and the slaughter goes on unchecked.ti till the
birds seek safety at other resorts.
Such, in brief, is the winter history of one
of our best known ''early birds. With us
at the North the robin is generally and wise.
iy protected, not only by statutes in nearly
every Northern state, but also by sentiment
of love and respect for one of the most use
full and attractive tenants of our town and
city suburbs, as well as Of the farms and the
highways. Not the least of its attractions
are its loud, clear, sweetly modulated and in
spring matin songs, which greet our ears
with the tirst break of day during the later
spring and early summer months. Robin +
appearance IN early spriDg-tlme is hailed
with delight as an assurance of the return Of
milder days, and of that joyous season when
all nature awRkens to new life and beauty -
D. 4. Alien IN HBeTV Other SltJtdaU