Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-04
ROBINS IN GREAT BRITAIN
EXPERIMENTS IN THE INTRO
DUCTIoN OF AMERICAN BIRDS.
How the Expatriated Red Breasts
Act in Their Oversee Home.
Tended and Fed With Care.
From the London Mall.

From the London Mail
A perfect stretch of sward al high mid
summer and in the dark cedar OF Leba-
non the ruff1ed red breast Of an Ameri-
can robin set against the azure-I do
not think 1 have seen a much lovelier
bird sight in England of late than this:
and, saying SO. l do not forget that
have been watching this summer the bow
of that glorious flyer the black, swishing
swift. and at the Trevalga cliff the whirl
OF nesting puffins in the gold dust Of
Cornish sunset
The attempt now being made to add
the American robin to our list of wild
English birds is most interesting. Ordi-
narily attempts to acclimatize foreign
birds. beasts or insects in England do
not appeal to me- Improving on nature
in natures realms strikes one sometimes
as painting the lily. Even If the alien
thrives, 1t takes the allen centuries to
grow into our fauna l would rather see
one black-veined white butterfly. or
Arion, the large blue, in its last haunt
or two in England tout Of which the un-
considerable greed of collectors is stamp
ing it, than a thousand splendid alien
butterflies. But there are exceptions. The
attempt at W,cken Fen to replace Dispar.
large copper butterfiy-now extinct
throughout the worldly corresponding
continental form Of large copper really Is
valuable, and the experiment In Surrey
with the fine red thrush Of North Amer
lea is an exception. too. If any foreign
bird seems to At our fauna. surely 1t Is
this thrush. Should the experiments now
being made near Gu!ldford succeed, the
American robin would look thoroughly
English In a very few years. Indeed.
watching the bird in June and July on
the terraces and In the cedar and syca-
more trees, I can hardly think of him
as anything but English. Certainly we
have on our list Of occasional, even of
regular. visitors birds far less English
than this one-for example. the golden
oriole, the waxwing. the roller.
The First Crisis.
When went in June to see the robins
the first crisis of the experiment was oc-
curing. There are two crises-the birds
must be induced to breed and the young
must be reared. That is the first crisis.
The second has yet to come-the crisis Of
migration. If in the late summer or au-
tumh the birds old and young now at
homo in the gardens and park disappear
the experiment, so far as the first year
goes, fails, for I can hardly think that
in such a case there would be chance
OF their returning in the spring Of 1910
On the other hand, the bird keepers and
watchers have come with success through
the earlier crisis. Last spring seventeen
American robins-nine cocks and eight
kens-brought from the United States
were put in a large out-of-door aviary.
When I went to Guildford early in June
found that a good many eggs had been
laid In several thrush and blackbird nests
fixed in the aviary and furnished up with
dry grass and clay by the breeding birds.
But several of the hers laid in the same
nest. there was rivalry and fighting and
son,eof the eggs got broken.
Accordingly, the birdkeeper took the
eggs from the aviary as they We're laid
and set them in clutches of three to five
in song thrushes' and blackbirds' nests
in the gardens. Most of the eggs were
put under thrushes. but two lots were put
in bla ckbirds' nests. AS a result twenty
four young were known to have Matched
out be core the middle Of July, when l
Eext went to see the birds. A few of the
young American robins were transferred
from thrushes' nests to boxes wired on
one side, and the old birds fed them.
But two young were found dead one
and the keeper believed they
had been poisoned by their foster par
ents through jealousy or waning affec-
ton. So the other young then being
reared were allowed to go free. The old
brushes were to be constantly seen feed
ing tie young American robins on the
lawns after this. They appeared to feed
them chiefly on some small insect found
in the short grass, but I have not been
able to identify the species. The chief
birdkeeper thinks it is red ant.
Finding the Nests.
Now comes tie rnost Interesting part
Ct tie experiment So far. Save for two
or three pairs. the adult American robins
were all released from the aviary on the
a ho 4
roughly, I think, about the middle of
June. They paired and set about nest
building almost at once.
A nest was found In the branch of a
cedar of Lebanon on the terrace; and in
another cedar I found a nest myself in
July, but 1 think it had been deserted.
There were three young In this first nest
all but ready to fly when saw 1t on July
II and July 49, I could see the fluff on
their heads as they peered over the side
of the nest, which was made, externally.
of dried grass from a meadow just beyond
the terrace. 1 believe that three other
nests were known of, one In the wild gar
den by the River Wey. another in a little
copse or spinney in the park. The cocks
sang finely in June and July. I was told:
have not yet heard the song-only heard
the call of the old birds as they fed their
chicks, and the call of the f1edged and
flown chicks.
Besides these nests of relea sed birds. one
lot of young were Matched in nest in the
aviary, but 1t seems that some of the old
birds set upon the young and killed them.
IF American robins are to breed in con-
inement. only pair. / should say. ought
TO be kept in the large cage or aviary
But the experiment described shows that
there is no need to try this: the eggs need
only be put under thrushes blackbirds
The bird-keeper thinks that OF the two
birds the song thrush is the better mother.
She is more attentive, he tells me. I
.I,ar, hoy tcyl,f no M fr6 10
better parent than the blackbrd, but he
1iffers from me in this.
How the Robins Are Fed.