. Starting at dawn and ending at sunset, a

Starting at dawn and ending at sunset, a robin sings a particularly loud and insistent song from the maple tree in tlje side yard. _ The song starts with two notes that sound much like hear-it, hear-it. This is followed by penetrating cries of tchew, tchew, tchew. This robin song has volume and great carrying quality. He is a persistent singer — over and over, h? calls tchew, tchew, tchew. e I have often found this robin's song too loud, too insistent, too constant. If he hgs a female incubating eggs high in the maple, does she need such incessant reminding by her mate that he is tfrere, that all is right in the tyorld of robins in this yard?

I have tried to locate the singer among the leafy branches but have been tenable to do so. Birds are ventriloquists and project their songs away from themselves. A predator, locating prey by frund, could easily move in for tjhe kill if the source of the robin's song was exact. ! This robin's loud calls 4eem to come from every part <)f the maple tree. It would not be easy for a hawk to find this persistent singer. I I have speculated about this vociferous bird. Perhaps there is no incubating female. Maybe he has lost his mate to a predator and is trying to attract another. If an unmated female is available, he should have no difficulty, for this property is rich with lawns where Earthworms — the favorite food of robins — thrive. > Charles Darwin claimed ihat one acre of a grassy field fray contain 50,000 earthworms. I don’t know the acreage of this property, but the field just west of us must have enough earthworms to fuel several constantly singing robins. — On rare occasions — for fhe robin is usually singing — I see him half running, half hopping through the grass. He stops, cocks his head, digs in and comes up with an earthworm that has been driven to fhe surface by the rain we have had in late June. • Three days ago, just as