54 The Redbreast. 



heavy rains a large flint or fragment of rock is dislodged and rolls into the road 

 leaving a hollow partly overhung by ivy or fern : such a site is tolerably certain 

 to be occupied the following spring, and each succeeding year, by a pair of 

 Redbreasts. 



I believe that of the man}' Robins which nest in our gardens and houses, 

 not one pair in twenty has the pleasure of seeing its young leave the nest ; 

 nearly the whole of them fall victims to cats. As to the cat not eating Robins, 

 that I have proved to be the wildest fiction ; a mere rustic legend, no more true 

 to fact than the reputed poisonous qualities of the slow-worm and newt. 



The nest of this bird, when placed in holes, is a loosely built structure, but 

 is more compactly formed when situated in ivy or creepers, ; the outer walls are 

 made of fine roots, bast, or coarse dr}^ grass, bents, and sometimes a few dead 

 oak leaves intertwined with hair and moss ; the cup is neatly lined with fine 

 grasses, fibre and hair: when built in holes moss is largely used and when placed 

 in ivy the front wall is largely covered with dead oak leaves, giving it somewhat 

 the appearance of a Nightingale's nest. 



The eggs vary in number from four to seven, but there are rarely less than 

 five or more than six ; in colour the}^ are usually fleshy white, more or less 

 mottled and spotted with sienna-reddish and red-brown ; sometimes the spotting 

 is weak, and forms a mere rusty nebula at the larger end ; occasionally the eggs 

 are pure white. 



The note of anxiety is a sharp tick, tick-a-tek, fck, tek ; but when the young 

 are out of the nest it is sometimes varied b}' a veritable croak, reminding one of 

 the Nightingale ; a thin plaintive piercing note, a kind of fsect (the same as the 

 distress note) is usually repeated at intervals for a short time before the bird 

 sings. The song itself is sweet and clear but somewhat plaintive : Henry Steven- 

 son, in his " Birds of Norfolk," thus poetically describes it : — " Clear and sharp 

 it sounds in the fresh morning air, whilst still the hoar frost hangs upon the 

 trees, or glitters on the threads of endless gossamer. The sportsman hears it by 

 the covert side as at midday he rests awhile, and seeks refreshment after all his 

 toils ; and later still, as he ' homeward plods his weary wa}',' that simple note, in 

 some m3'Sterious manner, awakens recollections of the past, when the .same sport 

 was shared with dear and absent friends. Again, in the months of September 

 and October, as the day declines and the evening ' draws in,' how we listen to 

 him in our gardens and shrubberies now chattering his little mandibles as he 

 jerks up and down on some projecting branch, now singing sweetl}', or at short 

 intervals waiting for, and answering some neighboviring songster." 



It has been said that the Robin sings best in the autumn and winter, but 



