90 MIGRATION AND FLIGHT. 



as its mate. They both forthwith set about building a new 

 nest on a small ledge, which had been prepared for them, as 

 near as possible to the place where that on the clothes screen 

 had been built, and which had been destroyed ; as, while it 

 remained, the screen was of course, useless to the family. 



In this nest three broods were reared as before, notwith- 

 standing the almost constant presence of the porter and his 

 wife, who lived and slept in the room. In the spring of the 

 third year, the male again made his appearance with another 

 mate, evidently much younger than its predecessor. The old 

 nest on the ledge was examined, but for some reason the birds 

 were not satisfied with its situation, and as the clothes-screen 

 was hanging in the same situation it had occupied the first 

 year, after a couple of days' hesitation they constructed a new 

 nest on the favourite screen, and the business of hatching and 

 rearing the young ones went regularly on. The male bird, 

 indeed, seemed to have acquired increased confidence, never 

 manifesting alarm at the number of visitors which so curious 

 a circumstance attracted to the lodge; whereas the female 

 continued very shy, and was on the alert, and ready to take 

 wing when anybody approached too near. It was remarked 

 in this, as in the preceding case, that no young birds, from 

 the moment of their taking wing, ever returned to the house, 

 either for the purpose of forming nests of their own in so safe 

 and comfortable an asylum, or disputing possession with the 

 old ones for the tenement in which they were born and bred. 

 But, besides these regular migratory birds, others seem to 

 possess a similar instinctive power; for instance, a Eobin 

 which frequented a greenhouse was caught, and a piece of silk 

 being tied round its leg, it was put into a bag, and carried to 

 a distance of some miles, and then turned loose. In three 

 days it was found in the greenhouse. 



One other peculiarity in the periodical visits of birds to 

 their breeding stations, is the punctuality of their arrival. 

 There is seldom the difference of a week, and frequently not 

 that of a day, in the time of the appearance of some parti- 

 cular species. Of course we cannot be accurate in most cases, 

 from not being able to fix on the exact moment of a bird's 



