BIRDS IN THE CALENDAR 



and some of the smaller warblers, are so 

 easily confused with those of allied species 

 that Lord Lilford's caution is by no means 

 superfluous. Ordinarily speaking, the robin's 

 egg is white, with red spots at one end, but 

 I remember taking at Bexley, nearly thirty 

 years ago, an immaculate one of coffee colour. 

 As the robin is a favourite foster-parent 

 with cuckoos, my first thought was that this 

 might be an unusually small egg of the 

 parasitic bird, which was very plentiful 

 thereabouts. It so happened, however, that 

 three days after I had abstracted the first 

 and only egg I took from that nest, there was 

 a second of the same type ; and, much as 

 I would have liked this also for my collection, 

 I left it in the nest so as to set all doubts at rest. 

 My moderation was rewarded, for no one else 

 found the nest, and hi due course the coffee- 

 coloured egg produced a robin like the rest. 



The robin is anything but a gregarious bird. 

 Its fighting temper doubtless leads it to keep 

 its own company, and we rarely see more 

 than one singing on the same bush, or seeking 

 for food on the same lawn. Yet, though it is 

 with us all the year, it is known to perform 

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