Birds of Britain 



dainty morsel, he will call out with a peculiar shrill single 

 syllabled " tzsee," as much as to say, " I have found some- 

 thing good and dare you to take it." This challenge is 

 almost sure to be taken up and swiftly repeated, not once 

 but many times. The challenged one will slowly approach, 

 there will be a short sharp fight, not much damage 

 apparently being done to either combatant, and away will 

 go the vanquished, while the victor, having eaten the " bone 

 of dissension," fluffs out his feathers, reels off a few bars 

 of his song, and then flies off to repeat the performance 

 elsewhere. So the winter passes, till gradually, as spring 

 comes round, and with it other birds, we are apt to forget 

 our little winter friend, his memory being only kept alive 

 by occasional glimpses of a red breast in the thicket or on 

 the ivy covering the wall. The Eobin who cheered us in 

 the cold winter days, though we are perhaps unaware of 

 the fact, has really gone, being engaged in bringing up his 

 brood in some other part of the country, and his place has 

 been taken by another from the south. There was probably 

 a short interregnum, but we did not notice it, imagining 

 probably that more abundant food had caused him to refuse 

 the modest pittance of bread-crumbs that we were 

 accustomed to put out daily for his especial benefit. The 

 new-comer is certainly rather a shyer bird, at least we see 

 less of him, but he is too busy to hang round the house ; 

 when he first comes he has to make sure of his footing, any 

 rivals within call have to be disposed of, not in the half- 

 hearted happy-go-lucky way that was good enough during 

 the winter, but effectually disposed of once and for all. 

 His next care is the choosing of a comfortable site for his 



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