SYLVIADZ. 81 
crumbs, meat, and nearly anything that can be got 
by begging. The single one in my aviary lives 
much the same as the Hedgesparrows, and seems 
very fond of ants and their eggs. 
The nest is usually placed by the side of a bank, 
or in thick ivy on a wall, or in some low bush, but 
various, and occasionally rather odd, situations are 
chosen: it is made of moss, dry grass, dead leaves, 
&ce., and is lined with hair and a few feathers. 
The Robin has the bill black; the irides black; 
head, neck, back, scapulars, wing and tail-coverts 
olive-brown; greater wing-coverts slightly tipped 
with buff; a streak over the base of the beak, and 
over the eyes, as well as the throat and breast, 
orange; a narrow band of bluish grey surrounds all 
the lower part of the orange; thighs, flanks and 
under tail-coverts lighter olive-brown than the back; 
belly nearly white; quills and tail olive-brown, each 
feather edged with a lighter shade; legs, toes and 
claws brown. ‘The young birds before the first 
moult have the feathers of the upper parts tipped 
with very pale brown; those of the throat and 
breast tinged with reddish brown and margined with 
dark brown. Varieties of the Robin occasionally 
occur. 
The eggs are about the size of those of the 
Hedgesparrow; of a white ground, slightly tinged 
with green, spotted with light rust-colour, the spots 
being most numerous at the larger end, where they 
