n8 ODD HOURS WITH NATURE 



How account for the difference? There can 

 hardly be a doubt that the character of our insular 

 robins is one of the many by-products of our 

 insular climate. Over the greater part of Northern 

 and Central Europe, where winter descends with 

 continental rigour, the robin is a migratory bird. 

 It shifts its quarters in winter to the regions 

 bordering on the Mediterranean. Thus neither in 

 its summer nor its winter home is it urged by 

 necessity to seek human aid in the working of its 

 economy. The British robins, on the other hand, 

 stay within the British Isles. The climate is not 

 hard enough to drive them out, yet, subject to 

 burst of boreal energy, savage enough to make 

 robins grateful for pensioner's fare. So they come 

 to the bread crumbs and develop latent aptitudes 

 for turning mankind to account. For it is highly 

 improbable that there is any sense of friendship 

 on the robin's side of the account. They recognize 

 mankind as objects in the landscape usefully asso- 

 ciated with the food supply, and utilize us just 

 as the water wagtails utilize cattle, having recog- 

 nized that cows are excellent for disturbing insects 

 that lurk in the grass. 



Naturally the robin in its nesting habits is a 

 shy bird, choosing a well-hidden place for its 

 home ; and many of our robins retain the race 

 habit in this respect to the full, particularly those 

 that live in the country. Shallow holes at the 

 bottom of trees, recesses in banks well shrouded 

 with herbage, and low set holes in walls are its 

 typical resorts and the discovery of the nest in 

 these natural conditions is never an easy matter. 



