56 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 



pipe, and see his wings quivered as he hops on the ground 01 

 from spray to spray not knowing I am noticing him, he seems as 

 dear to me as ever. The mossy nest, with its intermixture of tine 

 roots and hairs, may be found weeks before leaves are thought of, 

 on the bank-side or low in the hed^e, and little concealed ; and 

 the four or five beautiful blue eggs in it become familiar to evei'y 

 nest-seeker among his very earliest acquisitions. Fig. 13, plate IL 



48. ROBIN. (Erythaca rubecula). 



Redbreast, Robin Redbreast, Ruddock, Robinet, Bob-robim 

 I remember throwing a stone at a Robin when a very little boy, 

 and to my consternation and utter grief, no less than to my sur- 

 prise, killing it. I "felt bad" about it as our American friends 

 say and thought I was as wicked as the Sparrow of bow-and- 

 arrow memory. It seems to be, or to have been, a common feel- 

 ing among boys, and is embodied in the old lines : 



" The Robin and the Wren 

 Are God's Cook and Hen." 



How beautiful the Robin's eggs are when just laid ; and how they 

 lose their peculiar pinky lovelii ess from being blown. A hundred 

 different places, too, the little biid selects for the site of its nest; 

 often being such moreover, as to illustrate their confiding fear 

 'essness, as much as the result in them of the pressure of winter 

 cold and hunger. In the tilt of a wagon; in a steam-boat; in a 

 room of the cottage ; near a blacksmith's forge ; in the constantly- 

 used garden-shed, as well as in the ivy or evergreen bush ; or on 

 the bank, or in the hedge ; or in a hole in the old ruin or bank 

 or house-wall : all places seem to suit it alike. The eggs are 

 five or six, sometimes seven ; and the shell is white, more or 

 less freckled with light red. fig. 14, plate IL 



49. BLUE-THROATED WARBLER. (Phanicura Suecica}. 

 Blue-throated Robin, Blue-throated Redstart, Blue-bieast. - 

 Only of very rare occurrence. 



50. REDSTART. (Phcenkum ruticUla} 

 Firetail, Eiretiirt, Brantail, Redtail. The male is one of the 

 most beautiful of our small birds, and I wish I could think it as 

 abun hint w th us as it used to be The nest is loosely con- 

 structed of moss, with a few small straws or bents sometimos, 

 and hair and feathers inside, and almost invariably is placed in 

 a hole, it may be in a hollowish tree, or a wall, or even in a bank ; 

 and here, where dry-stone walls abound, its choice of nesting- 

 places is inexhaustible. Very watchful are the old birds over the 

 eggs, and ve*-y fussy and noisy when the eggs have yielded their 

 living contents, and yet very careful too. J knew* there was a 

 cest the year before last not far from my garden gatej but it was 



