362 



THE HEDGE ACCENTOR. 



bird is very sweet and pleasing, and it is a pretty sight to observe two 

 or more Redbreasts perched on different trees and answering each other 

 with their musical cries. Whenever the Redbreast perches on the top 

 of a tree or other elevated spot and begins to sing merrily, it is an un- 

 failing indication that the weather of the coming day promises to be 

 fair. The bird sings throughout the greater part of the year, beginning 

 early in spring and continuing very late into the autumn. Even in the 

 winter months a bright sunny day is apt to excite the Robin to perch 

 upon a twig and pour forth a sweet though broken melody. 



The colors of the male Robin are bright olive-brown on the back 

 and orange-red on the throat, chin, breast, forehead, and round the eye. 

 A stripe of blue-gray runs round the red, and the abdomen and lower 

 part of the breast are white. The bill and eyes are black. The female 

 is colored after the same manner, but the tints are not so vivid as in 

 her mate. The total length of the bird is nearly six inches, and its 

 weight about half an ounce. 



Of the pretty though sober-plumaged Accentors we have one or two 

 British examples, that which is best known being the Hedge Accentor, 

 or Hedge Sparrow, as it is often, though wrongly, called, it by no means 

 belonging to the same group of birds. 



The Hedge Accentor is very common through the whole of England, 

 and may be heard in the gardens, copses, and hedgerows, chanting its 



pleasing and plaintive melody with- 

 out displaying much fear of its au- 

 ditors. 



It is especially adapted for living 

 among hedges, as it possesses a sin- 

 gular facility in threading its way 

 through the twigs, stems, and 

 branches. It seems equally at 

 home in dried brushwood, and 

 may often be seen traversing the 

 interior of a woodpile with perfect 

 ease. The nest is one of the ear- 

 TuL Hedge Accentor or Sparrow liest to be built, and is frequently 

 {Accentor modularius). completed and the eggs laid before 



the genial warmth of spring has induced the green leaves to burst 

 their enclosures. 



The nest is generally placed at a very low elevation, seldom more 

 than two or three feet from the ground, and is rather large in propor- 

 tion to the size of the bird. The materials of which the structure is 

 made are various mosses, wool, and hair, and the eggs are usually five 

 in number, of a bright bluish green color. Sometimes, but very rarely, 

 six eggs are found in a single nest. 



