100 APRIL. 



mented with deep purple flourishes of a hiero- 

 glyphic-like appearance. The robin too builds in 

 the bank, and his nest may be immediately known 

 by the brown withered leaves collected at its door, 

 so to speak, as if he always bore them in his 

 escutcheon, in memory of his meritorious behaviour 

 to " the Babes in the Wood." The fame of that 

 good deed is his perpetual defence. None but the 

 most hardened and graceless lads will rob a wren 

 or a robin, for, says their legend 



Robinets and Jenny Wrens 



Are God Almighty's Cocks and Hens. 



And it is likewise a tradition amongst them, that if 

 you rob either of these the cows will give bloody 

 milk. On the banks too, or in the outskirts of a 

 thicket, or where some thorns have been laid and 

 the tall grass has grown up amongst them, the little 

 willow-wren builds an oval nest after the fashion of 

 the common wren and the feather-poke, and lays 

 a great number of eggs in a mass of warm feathers. 

 The eggs of all these birds are much alike in colour; 

 of a pale delicate bloom with red spots. The white- 

 throat builds in almost every wild rose-bush a thin 

 gauzy nest of the dry stalks of the ladies'-bed-straw, 

 or suspends it amongst the fresh-growing nettles, and 

 lays five eggs of a tawny colour, brown spotted. 

 Very similar to these are the nest and eggs of the 

 black-cap, or common warbler, as the bird itself, ex- 

 cepting its black head, is similar to the white-throat 

 in shape, colour, and habit. Its nest, however, is more 



