64 REDSTART 



on which a garden door was hung ; the bottom of the nest, 



of course, resting on the iron hinge, which must have shaken 



it every time the door was opened. Nevertheless, there she 



sat, in spite of all the inconvenience and publicity, exposed 



as she was to all who were constantly passing to and fro. 



Another has been known in like manner to sit through the 



din of three looms at work from five o'clock in the morning 



until ten at night, within twelve feet of the nest. The same 



situation, if the birds have been undisturbed, is frequently 



resorted to from year to year. One pair have been known 



to revisit the same garden for sixteen seasons in succession : 



a pair resorted for four successive years to the ventilator 



of a stable. The female is sedulously devoted to her eggs 



or young, and will sometimes suffer herself to be touched 



before flying off from the nest ; if, however, they be 



molested she will forsake it : both birds indeed are most 



assiduous in their attentions to their brood, one or other of 



them being to be seen in constant motion, conveying food 



to them, or retiring in search of it. In one instance, the 



male bird having been killed while the hen was sitting, 



another partner joined the widow, and became foster-father 



to the orphaned family." It has been known to lay its 



eggs in the nest of a Titmouse. 



The following was in the Ipswich Journal of June 

 nth, 1853: "In the gardens at Holbrook House, the 

 residence of Miss Reade, a little bird called the Redtail 

 has built a nest in an inverted flower-pot, six and a half 

 inches deep, and seven inches wide at the top. The hole 

 in the bottom, or rather the top as the pot stands, is one 

 and a half inches over, and through this the little bird 

 has carried the whole of the materials for its nest, which 

 is formed on the side of the pot. Six eggs were laid, 



