THE ROBIN 
ERITHACUS RUBECULA 
Loca names in surrounding counties : 
Sratus tN BrrrisH AviraunaA: A common and widely dis- 
tributed resident, its numbers increased during migration. 
Rap1aAL DIsTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 
Pauu’s: The Robin is another common London bird, 
although one that is much more frequently seen in the 
inner Metropolitan area during winter than at other 
times, when it seems to retire to remoter districts to bring 
up its brood. It is in autumn, perhaps, when the 
universality of its distribution is most apparent. It may 
be met with in almost every spot where a wild bird can 
find shelter, from well within the two-mile radius to the 
uttermost limits of the circle we have selected, becoming 
commoner, of course, as the suburbs become more rural 
and vegetation more abundant. How near to St. Paul’s 
it may breed is rather a difficult question to solve. It 
may possibly do so in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, 
in St. James’s Park and Hyde Park, as well as in Battersea 
Park; that it does so at Clapham, Dulwich, Kilburn, 
Brondesbury, and Hampstead there can be no doubt ; 
whilst further afield, at Tooting, Wimbledon, Chiswick, 
Gunnersbury, Acton, Harlesden, Highgate, Wanstead, 
and other suburbs, it becomes, of course, increasingly 
numerous. In winter there are few suitable suburban 
grounds and gardens where it may not be detected, 
whilst in exceptionally severe weather it visits localities 
where its presence may justly excite surprise. 
Although the London suburbs are visited in autumn 
and winter by numbers of Robins that not only come in 
from the country districts round about, but even from 
Continental Europe, the *‘ Cockney ” individuals wander 
little from their usual retreats, nesting in them. Most 
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