e last to leave you. Just think, the first to come and last
to leave. Don't you think we ought to be great friends? Let us get
better acquainted when next we meet. Your friend,

ROBIN.

How do the robins build their nest?
Robin Red Breast told me,
First a wisp of yellow hay
In a pretty round they lay;
Then some shreds of downy floss,
Feathers too, and bits of moss,
Woven with a sweet, sweet song,
This way, that way, and across:
That's what Robin told me.

Where do the robins hide their nest?
Robin Red Breast told me,
Up among the leaves so deep,
Where the sunbeams rarely creep,
Long before the winds are cold,
Long before the leaves are gold
Bright-eyed stars will peep and see
Baby Robins--one, two, three:
That's what Robin told me.

THE AMERICAN ROBIN.

"Come, sweetest of the feathered throng."

Our American Robin must not be confounded with the English Robin
Redbreast, although both bear the same name. It is the latter bird in
whose praise so much has been written in fable and song. The American
Robin belongs to the Thrush family; the Mocking bird, Cat-bird and Brown
Thrush, or Thrasher, being other familiar children. In this family, bird
organization reaches its highest development. This bird is larger than
his English cousin the Redbreast and many think has a finer note than
any other of the Thrush family.

The Robin courts the society of man, following close upon the plow and
the spade and often becoming quite tame and domestic. It feeds for a
month or two on strawberries and cherries, but generally on worms and
insects picked out of the ground. It destroys the larvae of many insects
in the soil and is a positive blessing to man, designed by the Creator
for ornament and pleasure, and use in protecting vegetation. John
Burroughs, the bird lover, says it is the most native and democratic of
our birds.

It is widely diffused over the country, migrating to milder climates in
the Winter. We have heard him in the early dawn on Nantucket Island
welcoming the coming day, in the valleys of the Great and the little
Miami, in the parks of Chicago, and on the plains of Kansas, his song
ever cheering and friendly. It is one of the earliest heralds of Spring,
coming as early as March or April, and is one of the latest birds to
leave us in Autumn. Its song is a welcome prelude to the gene