328 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



flower pots, tea and coffee pots, old kettles, canisters, 

 baskets, in rabbit holes, in the sides of hayricks, 

 and other odd places. Common nearly everywhere 

 throughout the British Isles. 



Materials. -Fibrous roots and moss lined with 

 dead leaves and hair. 



Eggs. -Five or six, occasionally as many as 

 seven and even eight ; white or very light grey, 

 blotched and freckled with dull light red. Some- 

 times the spots become confluent over nearly the 

 entire surface of the shell, at others they are col- 

 lected round the larger end. Occasionally very 

 sparingly supplied or altogether absent. I have 

 met with specimens almost as distinctively 

 marked as those of a Great Tit. Size about .8 

 by .6 in. (See Plate IV.) 



Time. March, April, May, June, and July. 



Remarks. Resident and migratory. Some 

 naturalists are of opinion that the Robins which 

 inhabit our gardens and orchards in winter migrate 

 North in summer, and that their places are supplied 

 by more Southern members of the species. Any- 

 way, it is certain that the bird does migrate, from 

 the fact that specimens visit our lightships during 

 the great autumn rushes. Notes : call, sharp and 

 clear ; alarm, one a quick grating sound like the 

 running down of a broken watch spring, and another 

 a very monotonous, low and plaintive chee, hardly 

 ever uttered except when the nest is being visited 

 by an intruder. Song, sweet and plaintive, the 

 latter quality accentuated during the autumn. 

 Local and other names : Redbreast, Robin Red- 

 breast, Robinet, Bob Robin, Ruddock. Sits closely. 

 The male feeds the female very assiduously during 

 the time she is laying and sitting, and during the 



