308 SYLVIID.E. 



able." He adds that many songsters of the autumn seem to 

 be the young cock Redbreasts of that year. 



As the song of the Mistletoe-Thrush is by many associated 

 with a stormy season, so is that of the Redbreast often con- 

 sidered a prognostic of fine weather. Several good observers 

 have expressed their belief that when at evening a Red- 

 breast takes its stand on the topmost twig of a tree or other 

 elevated position, and there continues to sing, a fine day may 

 be safely predicted on the morrow. This evening song how- 

 ever is not to be confounded with the peculiar call-note 

 uttered by the bird when ordinarily retiring to rest. It is 

 one of the latest of diurnal l)irds to go to roost, and one of 

 the earliest to be seen moving in the morning. 



Insects, in their various stages, and earthworms, form the 

 principal food of the Redbreast during the greater part of the 

 year. The former are chiefly sought for among dead leaves 

 under trees or bushes, and the latter in more open ground. 

 In its search for worms, which it beats on the ground before 

 swallowing them, the bird has much the manner of a 

 Thrush. As summer advances, berries and to some extent 

 garden-fruits enter into its diet, while its almost omnivorous 

 appetite on the setting-in of hard weather is sufficiently well 

 known. 



The Redbreast, like several other birds, is remarkable for 

 the peculiarity of the situation in which it sometimes builds 

 its nest, and pages might be cited from various writers, 

 especially in difi^erent periodicals, to confirm this statement. 

 Some of the more marvellous cases recorded are mentioned in 

 the late Bishop Stanley's justly popular ' Familiar History of 

 Birds ' ; while a large collection of anecdotes shewing many 

 of the whimsical habits of this feathered favourite has been 

 compiled by Mr. Morris, and will be found in his ' British 

 Birds'. Yet, notwithstanding all the apparent confidence 

 with which the Redbreast approaches man and his works, 

 few birds are generally more jealous of the least interference. 

 Even after incubation is begun, the sudden discovery of the 

 nest, while the owner is upon it, without disturbance of its 

 contents, will often make the bird forsake its eggs, and 



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