58 REDBREAST 



The nest of the Robin, which is built of fine stalks, moss, 

 dried leaves, and grass, and lined with hair and wool, with 

 sometimes a few feathers, is generally placed on a bank 

 under the shelter of a bush, or sometimes in a bush itself, at 

 a low height from the ground, and occasionally in a hole 

 in a wall covered with ivy, a crevice in a rock, among fern 

 and tangled roots the entrance perhaps being through some 

 very narrow aperture, or an ivy-clad tree. It measures about 

 five inches and three quarters across, and two and a half 

 in internal diameter. It is concealed with great care and 

 success. 



King William the Fourth had a part of the mizzen-mast 

 of the Victory, against which Lord Nelson was standing 

 when he was mortally wounded, placed in a building in the 

 grounds of Bushey Park when he resided there. A large 

 shot had passed through this part of the mast, and in the 

 hole it had left, a pair of Robins built their nest and reared 

 their young. The relic was afterwards removed to the 

 dining-room of the house, and is now in the armoury of 

 Windsor Castle. 



A loft is frequently built in, and in one instance, the nest 

 having been obliged to be removed for an alteration in the 

 wall, the hen bird did not forsake it, though placed elsewhere. 

 Another nest was placed on a shelf in a pantry, among some 

 four-sided bottles, so that it was made of a square shape. 

 When disturbed by the entrance of any person, the bird 

 alighted on the floor till the visitor had gone, when it imme- 

 diately returned to its nest. 



Mr. Jesse relates the following: "A gentleman had 

 directed a waggon to be packed, intending to send it to 

 Worthing, where he himself was going. For some reason 

 his journey was delayed, and he therefore directed that the 



