8o 



STORIES ABOUT BIRDS. 



Early in the spring the robins were let out to fly. But they had been 

 very busy meanwhile, and had built a pretty little nest, out of what few 

 materials they could find. 



A {q\v withered stalks of horehound hung from the ceiling, to be used as 

 a medicine if any of the family took cold. The birds had pulled it down, 

 and used it for the outside of the nest. The inside was lined with the down 

 of another plant, kept there to feed a tame bullfinch. And the result of all 

 was a very tolerable little nest. 



THE REDSTART. 



TlIERE is a small class of birds that are related to the robin and the night- 

 ingale. They are known by the name of redstarts, and are rarely met with 

 in England. One species only is at all common among us, and is called 

 white-pointed, because of the white mark over the c}'e of the bird. He is 

 handsomely dressed, in grey, black, and orange. The throat and back part 

 of the head is black, and the breast and tail light reddish orange. 



The redstart has several relations that live on the continent, and 



