CHATS, ROBINS AND WARBLERS 27 



excavated in the making of the Ship Canal, 

 and was at that time wild and covered with a 

 strong growth of all kinds of weeds. It was 

 on a wire fence that ran along this bank that 

 I saw the bright little bird. And there, with 

 a curious pendulum-like movement of its tail, 

 it continued to sit for a considerable time, 

 giving me ample opportunity to study it 

 leisurely through a field-glass. 



Though redstarts are not uncommon in 

 Dunham Park a few miles away, only once 

 have I seen one in the garden, in August, 

 1894. It stayed for several days, and was 

 never far away from the place where I first 

 saw it. I noticed that other birds who are at 

 home here, wagtails especially, seemed to 

 look upon it as an interloper and resented its 

 intrusion. 



One of the first things that I remember 

 about the natural history of Warburton is a 

 brood of four white or more strictly 

 speaking, cream-coloured robins that were 

 hatched in a neighbouring garden in 1872. 

 They were jealously watched over by the 

 owner of the garden, and I often saw two of 

 them until the autumn. Then they must 

 either have been taken (and many people 

 were after them) or have moulted to the 

 ordinary robin colours, for we saw them no 

 more. 



Robins are plentiful in the garden and in 

 the neighbourhood generally. They show 



