96 RUDDY-BREASTED BIRDS. 



peculiar shivering motion of the tail, practised 

 always just after alighting. 



■ YELLOAYHAMMER— 6i inches. A bird tliat kIiows fairly 

 bright chestnut on the lower back during llight, but 

 the outer tail-feathers are conspicuously white, and the 

 bird itself is for the most part yellow. 



REDBREAST (ROBIN).— Plate 42. Length, 5f 

 inches. Upper parts olive-brown ; wing and tail 

 feathers dark brown ; breast bright red, wnth a blue- 

 gray tract on each side ; centre of breast and belly 

 white ; flanks brown ; bill narrow, pointed, dark ; legs 

 dai-k. Resident. 



Eggs. — 5-7, white, softly clouded and spotted Avith 

 pale ruddy-brown; '8 x '6 inch (plate 125). 



Nest. — Of dry grass, moss, and leaves, lined with 



hair and some feathers, and placed in a hole in 



trees, walls, banks, in derelict pots and pans, and 

 the like. 



Distribution. — General. 



Brown above, white below, and red in front, the 

 Redbreast is more boldly and simply marked than 

 any other ruddy - breasted bird. He is with us 

 throughout the year, a constant visitor to our gardens 

 in winter, but drawing off to some extent in spring 

 to nest in hedge and ditch banks, holes in trees or 

 ivy -clad walls, and a hundred curious situations 

 having the common feature that they afford a 

 hollow shelter for the nest. He is well known as 

 a nester also in outhouses. When on the ground the 

 Redbreast hops ; when perched — generally on some 



