29G CHARACTER OF THE REDBREAST. 



Beinji present one clay in December, 1837, when a golden eagle was fed, a Roliin, to my 

 surprise, took the eagle's place on the perch the moment that he descended to the gi'ound 

 to eat some food given him, and when there, picked off some little fragments of fat or 

 scraps of flesh ; this done, it quite unconcernedly alighted on the chain by which the 

 ' rapacious ' bird was fastened. 



I at the same time learned that this Robin regularly visited the eagle's abode at 

 feeding-time, though as yet there was no severity of weather. Although the Robin escaped 

 the golden eagle imscathed, as much cannot be said for one which occasionally entered the 

 kitchen at the Falls, and sang there ; having one day alighted on a cage in which a toucan 

 was kept, this bird with it huge bill seized and devoured it." Another Robin, mentioned 

 by the same author, was in the habit of attending on a carpenter, stealing the shavings as 

 materials for his nest, and making very free with his grease-pot, pecking fe-om it while in 

 his hand. 



The Robin is also remarkably fond of bread and butter on which honey or sugar has 

 been spread, and will eat of this dainty until it is hardly able to fly. One of these birds 

 wlio had been treated to such a repast, was so pleased with it that he returned, bringing 

 with him three companions, who gorged themselves to such a degree, that they were taken 

 up by hand, and put away for the night into a comfortable recess. After a while, between 

 twenty and thirty Robins came to the house in hopes of obtaining the sweet food. 

 Perhaps they may be instinctively led to sugar and fatty substances, as a means of 

 preserving themselves against the effects of cold. Cream is in great favour with the birds 

 during the winter mouths, and they have been seen to enter an outhouse which was 

 employed for washing purposes, and to eat the soap. 



The Redbreast is a most combative bird, fighting its own species M'ith singular energj^ 

 and often killing its opponent. One of these birds killed upwards of twenty of its own 

 kind, merely because they came into a greenhouse which he chose to arrogate to himself. 

 It is very jealous, too, of its human friends, and not only prohibits other individuals from 

 sharing in the friendship, but will often drive away its own young if they approach too 

 closely. 



The nest of this bird is generally placed near the ground in a thick leafy bush, or in a 

 bank, and is composed of dry leaves, moss, grass, hair, and feathers. I have seen the nest 

 very well concealed among the thick ivy that had wreathed round a tree-trunk, and placed 

 about eight feet from the ground. The bird seldom flies directly to its nest, or leaves it 

 directly, but alights at a little distance, and creej^s through the leaves or branches until 

 it enters its home. When, however, the Redbreast chooses to become familiar with man, 

 it takes advantage of his friendship, and deposits its nest and eggs imder his care. Tlie 

 localities which have been chosen for the Robin's home are diverse beyond description, 

 one of the most curious being the centre of a large cabbage growing in a garden. 



The bird has been known to make its nest in a workman's tool-basket hanging against 

 the wall, in a fold of a window-curtain, upon a shelf in a greenhouse, in the side of a 

 saw-pit, in a knot-hole of timber used in a ship which was being Imilt, the birds being not 

 in the least discomposed by the constant hammering of the trenaUs. Air. Thompson gives 

 the following quaint account of a Redbreast and its nest. 



" At Fort William, the seat of a relation, the following circumstance occurred. In a 

 pantry, the window of which was left open during the day, one of these birds constructed 

 its nest early in the summer. The place selected was the corner of a moderately high 

 shelf, among pickle-bottles, which, being four-sided, gave the nest the singular appearance 

 of a perfect square. It was made of green moss, and lined with a Little black hair ; on 

 the one side which was exposed to view, and that only, were dead beech-leaves. "\Mien 

 any article near the nest was sought for by the housekeeper, the bird, instead of flying 

 out of the window, as might have been expected, alighted on the floor, and waited there 

 patiently until the cause of disturbance was over, when it immediately retm-ned to its 

 nest. Five eggs were laid, which, after having been incubated without success for the 

 long period of about five weeks, were forsaken. 



The room above this pantry was occupied as a bird-stuffing apartment ; after the 



