BIRDS OF THE GARDEN 39 



Eggs. Four to five. White, faintly suffused with 

 lilac, streaked, dotted, and scribbled with purplish black 

 or brown. 



REDBREAST OR ROBIN (Erithacus mbecula). 



Everywhere abundant, except in the extreme North. 



Haunts. Essentially a bird of the garden, and 

 only quits the society of mankind during the autumn 

 moult. 



Plumage. Upper parts olive-brown. Forehead, lores, 

 chin, throat, and breast red edged with grey. Belly 

 white. Bill black. Legs brown. Length 5f in. Female, 

 similar but duller. Young, feathers above and below, 

 spotted with buff and tipped with black. 



Language. Song, most cheerful and pleasing and 

 familiar to all. Note of anxiety, " lit-it-it-it," sound- 

 ing somewhat metallic. Call-note, a short kind of 

 squeak. 



Habits. Eminently of a confiding and also extremely 

 pugnacious nature. On the ground it takes long hops, 

 punctuated every now and then by a curious stoop of 

 the head, a flick of the wings, and a jerk of the tail. 

 Flight undulating and never sustained for long. 



Food. Insects and their larvae, spiders, small worms, 

 soft fruits, berries and seeds, and crumbs and scraps in 

 winter. 



Nest. March onwards. Several broods. 



Site. A variety of places. Usually in hole in wall, in 

 grass bank, in cleft in tree, amongst ivy, &c. 



Materials. Dry grass, skeleton leaves, rootlets, and 

 moss, lined with finer grass, hair, and sometimes 

 feathers. Somewhat untidy, and not unlike the Night- 

 ingale's. 



Eggs. Four to six. Pinky white (pinkiness dis- 

 appears after blowing), spotted and freckled with pale 

 reddish brown. Variable. 



