Of all our birds the robin has life in the fullest measure, or best
stands the Darwinian test of the fittest to survive. His versatility,
adaptiveness, and fecundity are remarkable. While not an omnivorous
feeder, he yet has a very wide range among fruits and insects. From
cherries to currants and strawberries he ranges freely, while he is the
only thrush that makes angle-worms one of his dietetic staples and looks
upon a fat grub as a rare tidbit. Then his nesting-habits are the most
diverse of all. Now he is a tree-builder in the fork of a trunk or on a
horizontal branch, then a builder in vines or rosebushes around your
porch, then on some coign of vantage about your house or barn, or under
the shed, or under a bridge, or in the stone wall, or on the ground
above a hedge. I have known him to go into a well and build there on a
projecting stone. He even nests beyond the Arctic Circle, and it is said
he never sings sweeter than when singing during those long Arctic days.
He brings off his first brood in May, and the second in June, and if a
dry season does not seriously curtail his food-supply, a third one in
September. He is a hustler in every sense of the word--a typical
American in his enterprise and versatility. His voice is the first I
hear in the morning, and the last at night. Little wonder that there are
twenty robins to one bluebird, or wood thrush, or catbird. The song
sparrow is probably our next most successful bird, but she is far
behind the robin. We could never have a plague of song sparrows or
bluebirds, but since the robins are now protected in the South as well
as in the North, we are exposed to the danger of a plague of robins.
Since they may no longer have robin pot-pies in Mississippi, the time is
near at hand when we may no longer have cherry-pies in New York or New
England. Yet who does not cherish a deep love for the robin? He is a
plebeian bird, but he adds a touch to life in the country that one would
not like to miss.
The robin is neither a walker nor a hopper; he is doomed always to be a
runner. Go slow he cannot; his engine is always "in high"--it starts "in
high" and stops "in high."