242 BRITISH AND EUROPEAN BIRDS. 



tain, all the year round, as well as generally throiighoat Eng- 

 land, should migrate from France during the winter months, 

 which it is said to do. It appears in this country to be par- 

 ticularly fond, during the winter season, of the habitations of 

 man ; its note is well-known, and its society always agreeable ; 

 M it sings at almost every season of the year, extremely cold wea 

 ther excepted. 



" The Redbreast swells. 

 In the slow-fading wood, his little ihroat 

 Alone: for other birds have dropp'd their note." 



It builds in dry banks, beneath tufts of grass j the nest is 

 composed of dead leaves, green moss, and stalks of plants ; it 

 is lined with hair. It lays generally five, sometimes more, 

 whitish ejrgs, with rusty spots. It is found over the whole of 

 Europe, from Norway and Sweden to the Mediterranean. 



A redbreast, some years since, frequently perched on one of 

 the pinnacles of the organ in the cathedral at Bristol, and 

 joined the music with its warbling effusions, it is said, for fifteen 

 years successively, till I7a7. Some lines on this extraordinary 

 fact have been long since published ; they were written by the 

 Rev. Samuel Love, m.a. one of the minor canons, and are 

 well deserving of perusal ; I am sorry that I have not room for 

 them. 



In very severe weather, a redbreast, many years ago, entered 

 my parlour in Somersetshire, took its station over the window, 

 where some food was placed for it ; it remained there about a 

 week, and when the weather became more mild it tiew away. 



The Troglodytes, Wren, Common- H'renj Cutty, Lady's-Hen,* 

 Cutty-fVreny or fVran, has the whole plumage transversely barred 

 with undulating lines of brown and black ; on the belly and lower 



* Lady's-Hen. My authority for this name is Drayton : 

 " The hedge-sparrow and her compeer the wren, 

 Which simple people call our lady's-hen." 



Owl. 



