REDBREAST. 45 



in the hedges and gardens. I counted up to fifty in one part 

 of the Warren House garden. Many dropped in the long sea- 

 grass on the sand-hills, and some caution was necessary 

 to avoid stepping on them, so reluctant were they to move. 

 The movement extended also to Lincolnshire and Norfolk. 

 The arrivals on the Holderness coast had all of them very 

 pale coloured breasts. From Heligoland Herr Giitkc also 

 reported a great migration." Mr. Cordeaux further wrote 

 (MS.) : " At Spurn Point I have watched them coming in 

 direct from the sea, on a bright sunny day, their red breasts 

 being very conspicuous as they passed overhead. Along 

 with other small migrants Robins frequently strike the 

 lanterns of our light- vessels and lighthouses during the night, 

 or alighting on the former, leave again after a few hours' 

 rest. They cross Heligoland also by thousands in the autumn 

 and again in the spring ; this return migration in the spring 

 is early, compared with that of some other birds, commencing 

 b}' the first week in March." The vernal passage is not so 

 pronounced as that in autumn ; a bird seen at the Teesmouth 

 on 25th April 1902 was evidently a returning migrant. 



On the coast, during the autum migratory period, Mr. 

 W. Eagle Clarke has frequently observed this bird in con- 

 siderable numbers in the most unsuitable localities, such as 

 sand-hills, where food of a congenial nature is almost un- 

 procurable, and it often has to resort to a marine " omnium 

 gatherum " at high- water mark in search of a meal. In 

 such places and at such times if often falls a prey to the 

 marauding Great Grey Shrike, which seems to have a penchant 

 for a dish of Redbreast. 



There are very many recorded instances of this bird 

 selecting unusual, nay extraordinary, nesting sites within 

 the county, but I will allude to only two of these : — One, 

 in which the nest, of the usual materials, was placed in the 

 curtains of the drawing-room at Gilling Castle, where three 

 eggs were laid and one young bird reared {Land and Water, 

 25th May 1878, p. 478). The other is recorded in the Field 

 for 17th May 1884, and refers to a nest built in a pot of maiden- 



