J. E. LITTLEBOT THE BIRDS OF OtTE DISTRICT. 21 



of none that we should more decidedly regret to banish from the 

 precincts of our garden. And no-sv I must confess that I stand con- 

 fx'ontcd with a difficulty. How shall I adequately describe the 

 redbreast? — the robin redbreast of our childhood, that we have all 

 fed with crumbs so many, many times, on a winter's morning, from 

 the parlour window, and that is so intimately associated with our 

 very earliest recollections. How strangely do memories of an olden 

 time, 



" The tender grace of a day that is past," 



linger around its name ! But I must try to strip him of adventitious 

 associations, and to describe him as he really is. I am afraid that, 

 in some respects, I cannot speak of him quite so highly as I could 

 wish. He is a selfish, quarrelsome little fellow, somewhat of a 

 glutton, and supposed to be singularly deficient in parental affection. 

 But he possesses his better characteristics also ; of no other bird can 

 it be said that he positively courts the companionship of man. 

 "Wlierever you may be, whether in the garden or field, whether 

 amidst the inmost recesses of the forest, or on the wide, open 

 common, seat yourself but for a few minutes on the stump of a 

 fallen tree, and there, hopping unconcernedly about, within a yard 

 of your elbow, you will infallibly observe a robin. Robins appear 

 to be almost ubiquitous ; their number must be legion, and yet I 

 will venture to say that no one has ever seen a flock of them to- 

 gether ; they are generally to be observed either singly or in pairs, 

 and rarely indeed is more than a single pair visible at the same time. 

 This peculiarity has been variously accounted for. It is said that 

 they are so quarrelsome that, like certain near relations, they find 

 it most satisfactory to live at a considerable distance from each other. 

 Then, again, I have seen it maintained that the robin wages a war 

 of extermination against all intruders, that the young birds are 

 especially severe on their older and weaker relatives, that in this 

 maimer large numbers are constantly destroyed, and the isolation of 

 the survivors maintained. I do not pi-etend to solve the mystery ; 

 I tell the tale as it is told to me, and here I must leave it. The 

 robin will frequently build in most grotesque and unlikely places ; 

 he has been known to select the coat sleeve of a garden scarecrow, 

 and even an old kettle in a blacksmith's shop. 



Now a few words about the remainder of the Warblers, and 

 under this head the following species may be classed : — The red- 

 start, the chats, the wheatear, the sedge, reed, and garden warblers ; 

 the chiff'-chafi", the blackcap, the whitethroats, the gold-crest, the 

 willow- wren, and the nightingale. The redstart, the stonechat, and 

 the whinchat generally frequent open waste lands and commons. 

 The nests of these birds have been found on both Berkhampstcad 

 and Chipperfield Commons, and that of the stonechat on King's 

 Langley Common. The redstart occasionally selects a more question- 

 able locality in which to build. I am informed by one of our 

 members, Mr. Ransom, of Hitchin, that for three years consecutively 

 a redstart has built and reared its young in the open roof of his 



