Evening star., 1944-10-04
This and That
By Charles E. TraceDell.
SOLDIERS HOME HOSl

SOLDIERS HOME HOSP.
Dear Sir:
From day to day during period
in June several Of a group who were
able looked out over the courtyard from
one of the hospital wards and watched
pair of robins build their nest well
up in one of the swaying boughs Of a
poplarlike maidenhair tree opposite our
window.
s About the time the first egg was
laid terrific storm of hurricane velocity
accompanied by thunder and lightning
and torrents of rain threatened to dis
rupt and dislodge the devoted robins
treasured home but like the courageous
helmsman grasping the wheel of his
vessel in distress, so likewise those
plucky robins held desperately, fearlessly
lieving each other through the stress
and storm.
"The wrath of the gods apparently
wreaked their vengeance as the strain
ing tree was mercilessly lashed and
whipped about by the raging elements,
but those dauntless weather-drenche
creatures held gamely onto their nest
At every opportunity and at intervals be-
tween sheets of rain when it was deemed
safe to make a dart from a vantage
point near the caves. one of the robins
would f1utter down onto the nest and
relieve the other until the storm had
subsided, and thus heroically saved their
nest. Sincerely, A. s."
This pair of robins did better Job of
lashing the nest to the branch than
many of them.
The robin is a notoriously poor nest
builder, preferring shelf of some sort,
and making a bowl-shaped nest thereon
Of mud reinforced with leaves and
twigs.
1t Is not a bad looking nest, but is
rather badly tied to the support. The
bird prefers tree. but will take any
sort of shelf projecting from building,
or will even nest in barn, or in or out
side of outbuildings. Usually the nest
Is better than Is feet in the air, but
often near the ground.
The nest is lined with grass, and is
ornamented with pieces of bright leaves,
paper. string and rags. Usually four or
five eggs are laid, sometimes six. They
are greenish blue, giving us the famous
color called after them, "robin's-egg
blue"
There are probably more robin eggs
found broken on the ground than the
eggs of any other bird, due to the ease
with which the nest is tilted.
Two broods are raised a year, and
sometimes three.
Young robins have thrushlike spots
on the chest, fading as the bird natures;
and this is not to be wondered at, since
our robin, which is entirely different
from the English robin redbreast," is
a member of the thrush family, to which
our bluebird also belongs. 6.
In sense, then, our robin is not
a robin at all, but a thrush. Indeed, his
wild singing, especially in the rain, Is
far better music than many listeners
realize. He is such q common bird, and
his song fits in so well with the songs
Of other birds, that too often his music
is lost unless one recognizes 1t and
takes care to keep it in mind.
John Burroughs tells of robin that
built her nest in the south end of
shed that covered railroad turntable.
when her end of the shed was turned
to the north she built another nest in
the temporary south end, and as the
reversal of the shed ends continued
from day to day, she soon had two
nests and two sets of eggs.
when / last heard from her, she
was constantly sitting on that particular
nest which happened to be for the time
being in the end Of the shed facing
south.
"The bewildered bird evidently had
no experience with the tricks of turn
tables"
The robin is one of the two birds
the other is the English sparrow-which
every one knows, and which forms a
standard of comparison for the size of
other species.
Until 1918 the robin was classed as q
game bird, and widely killed and eaten,
especially in spring in the South.
Today 1t is protected by the Federal
migratory bird law.
In Colonial days 1t was sometimes
called the fieldfare. It is quite different
from the English robin, which Is smaller
and has a, really red breast. Our biz
robin has an orange-red breast, de-
scribed ia the books as deep cinnarnon-
rufousl d