The chipping sparrow always lines its nest with hairs, the crane uses cedar bark, the robin mud, the vireos often place a bit of wasps’ nest in their bag-like nests; but no one has ever tried to explain why they should always employ these particular things.

The oriole is a master weaver.  Have you ever seen his cradle swaying from an elm branch?  It is so well made that it often lasts through the winter.

It is usually made of long grass fibres.  If the birds can find strings or worsted, they are glad to use them, but they sometimes get their claws caught in the string, and are not able to free themselves, so it is better for them to use other material.  When the birds have left their nests in the autumn, yon may take them to study and to show to others.

Many thoughtless boys rob birds of their nests and eggs.  They do not intend to be wicked, but they do not know any better.  If they could learn how interesting it is to see the birds building their homes and rearing their young, they surely would not wish to destroy them.

THE ROBIN.

Some birds are shy and retiring, and if we would meet them we must go to their haunts in the forests.  Others are comparatively tame and domestic, living about our dwellings and meeting us more than halfway when we attempt to make friends with them.

Among these familiar birds of the garden and orchard, none is better known than the cheery robin.  Robins are very numerous, and are found in all parts of North America, from New England to Alaska, and south to the city of Mexico.

It is due to his tameness and also to his brick-red breast that he bears the name of “Robin.”

When the first English settlers came to this country, of course everything was new and strange to them.  The birds had only Indian names which the newcomers could not understand, even when they heard them.  So they had to make up names for those birds that were common enough to attract their attention.

The robin was probably one of the first to be named.  When the settlers saw this friendly bird, with a breast colored somewhat like the robin redbreast of England, they called him “Robin,” after the favorite of their far-away homes.

The two birds are really quite unlike.  The robin redbreast is less than six inches in length, and is slighter than our bluebird, while our robin is ten inches long, and is, as every one knows, a stout, heavy bird.  There is only a general resemblance in color, both birds having a brownish-red breast; probably our bird’s name is due as much to his friendly ways as to his appearance.

The robin is a migratory bird, and in winter is not usually found north of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  This is his playtime in the sunny South.  He lives in flocks containing hundreds and even thousands of birds.  They feed on the berries of the dogwood, china tree and mistletoe, and are the jolliest lot of birds it is possible to imagine.