THE REDBREAST. 237 



We shall close our anecdotes of singular situations chosen 

 for building nests, with an instance of a Sparrow, who, like 

 the preceding Robin, attached herself to a church; but 

 instead of the parish Bible, selected the middle of a carved 

 thistle, which decorated the top of the pulpit in a chapel at 

 Kennaway in Scotland. It found free ingress and egress by 

 means of the windows, which were left open for the purpose 

 of airing the chapel in the week-days. This bird might 

 literally be said to have verified the words of the Psalmist, 

 " The Sparrow hath found an house, where she may lay her 

 young, even thine altars, Lord." 



Most of the birds of this tribe are migratory, either 

 partially, or altogether so : we mean, that while the Night- 

 ingales, Willow-wrens, and others disappear entirely from 

 our shores, and retire to distant and more congenial climates, 

 others, such as the Wag-tails, only move from one part of 

 England to another. The exact times of their appearance 

 and departure it would be desirable to ascertain, with 

 reference to state of weather, direction of the wind, and 

 prevalence of particular insects, &c. In short, the same 

 principle holds good in natural history as in other science : 

 namely, the importance of noting down observations, how- 

 ever trivial they may appear at the time, as the most minute 

 circumstance may possibly, when connected with other 

 inquiries, lead to unexpected additions to our knowledge of 

 the operations of nature, just as a unit or cipher in arithmetic 

 becomes important, simply by taking its proper place. 



It might, indeed, in connexion with this view of the sub- 

 ject, afford an interesting object of research, were the daily, 

 or almost hourly migrations, if we may so speak, more 

 closely observed ; my own belief being, that several species 

 of birds are in the habit not only of, generally speaking, 

 confining themselves to certain localities, but at certain hours 

 of the day frequenting particular spots, an instance in proof 

 may be given of a Robin, which during a considerable 

 portion of the winter took shelter in Norwich Cathedral, 

 perching during the Morning Service, and almost always 

 within a minute or two of the same time, on a particular 



