Evening star., 1941-03-31
ARLINGTON, Va.

Your column has been a very inter-
esting one to me since coming to this
section of the country about three years
ago, and have learned a great many
things about birds that had not known.
However, it was surprise to me this
evening to read that you and others were
puzzled as to what to feed robins. Years
ago my parents had grape arbor,
and it attracted robins like bees to
honey. They ate grapes until they were
sick, sitting on the fence, teetering back
and forth and rolling their eyes, very
much like some one who had lmblbed
liquor too freely. Last year we seemed
to have an unusually large number OF
robins in our section, and after reading
your comment, that the mocklngblrd is
fond of raiSins, it occurred to me that
no doubt the robin would like them, too.
They discovered them quickly and con-
sumed so many that l decided to do
little watching. I found that about four
females were storing four or five raisins
apiece in their bills and flying away
with them. Soon they would come back
and repeat the process. Not many days
passed before they began to coax and
beg for more when the supply ran out,
sitting on a wire near the door and cry
ing until some one came out and re-
plenished the feeder
~ A*
"They kept us busy for weeks and in
that time became so tame that they all
but took the raiSinS from our hand.
Naturally, we were anxious TO see the
babies who were on the receiving end of
all these raiSins. Eventually the day
came when the proud mothers brought
them forth still feeding them, of course,
but now with less effort, since they were
brought right to the feeder. One day
one of the youngsters revolted. Evil
dently he liked the taste of worms bet
ter, but his mother was taking the easier
course and giving him raisins. 1t is
surprising how plainly birds can show
their anger, and this little fellow was
getting madder with every raisin. Final
". he very determinedly spit out one of
the raisins-he was given another and
spit it out, this being repeated about
four times. 1t was one of the most
comical episodes I have yet seen, be-
cause it was so human, and finally moth
er robin had to give in and go hunt a
worm.
Several years ago we had gas range
with a trash burner, the latter having
a small stove pipe attached to carry off
the smoke One day we thought we
heard a noise in this pipe, but it was not
repeated, and not knowing what could
be in it, believed We had imagined the
noise. However, we thought We heard it
again three days later, listened some
more, but again it was not repeated. A
week after the sound was heard for the
first time, it came again, a sort of peck
ing, and was followed by a decided flap
ping of wings. 1t seemed impossible that
anything could be in stove pipe. but we
took it apart and soon robin flew out.
The light was decidedly bewildering to
him, and my, but he was sooty! Looked
like a blackbird How he managed to
survive the frequent burnings of trash
and also keep from starving to death is
still a mystery to us. Apparently he
had spent that week sitting on the
damper of that stove pipe! But he
seemed none the worse for wear and
after becoming accustomed to the light,
few off without difficulty.
I'VE had a similar experience with a