THE REDBREAST. 231 



Another nest was constructed, and for two successive years, 

 in a still more extraordinary situation, which we give, not on 

 our own authority,* but fully believing it, corroborated, as it 

 may in a manner be said to be, by the proofs of confidence 

 already given. A few years ago a pair of Robins took up their 

 abode in the parish church of Hampton, in Warwickshire, and 

 affixed their nest to the church Bible as it lay on the reading- 

 desk. The vicar would not allow the birds to be disturbed, 

 and therefore supplied himself with another Bible, from which 

 he read the lessons of the service. A similar instance occurred 

 at Collingbourne Kingston church, in Wiltshire, on the i3th 

 of April 1834 ; the clerk, on looking out for the lessons of the 

 day, perceived something under the Bible in the reading-desk, 

 and in a hollow place, occasioned by the Bible's resting on a 

 raised ledge, found a Robin's nest containing two eggs. The 

 bird, not having been disturbed, laid four more, which were 

 hatched on the 4th of May. The still more extraordinary part 

 of the story is, that the cock-bird actually brought food in its 

 bill and fed the young brood during divine service, which is per- 

 formed twice every Sunday; and it is further highly creditable 

 to the parishioners, particularly the junior portion of them, that 

 the birds were never molested, and not an attempt ever suspected 

 to be made on the nest and eggs deposited in so hallowed a spot. 



We can remember, indeed, a Robin hopping more than once 

 familiarly, as if aware how safe from peril it was at such a 

 moment, upon our own Bible, as it lay open before us reading 

 the lessons on a Christmas Day. 



We shall close our anecdotes of singular situations chosen for 

 building nests with an instance of a Sparrow, who, like the 

 preceding Robin, attached herself to a church ; but instead of 

 the parish Bible, selected the middle of a carved thistle, which 

 decorated the iop of the pulpit in a chapel at Kennaway, in 

 Scotland. It found free ingress and egress by means of the 

 windows, which were left open for the purpose of airing the 

 chapel in the week-days. This bird might literally be said to 

 have verified the words of the Psalmist, although the Solitary 

 Thrush is undoubtedly alluded to as the Sparrow in Scripture. 

 * Nat. Hist. Mag., No. 31. 



