EEDBREAST. 31 



Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, mentions one which built its 

 nest in the curtain of a bed in an occupied house, but the 

 window being closed against it, it laid an egg on the window- 

 sill. This circumstance caused pity for the bird, the window 

 was re-opened, and the egg placed in the nest, where the 

 usual number was duly deposited and incubated. 



Mr. John Cope, of Abbots Bromley, near Stafford, has 

 obliged me with the following instances: 'A pair of Redbreasts 

 built their nest on a part of a steam-engine continually in 

 motion night and day, and close to the colliers at work, at 

 the Heath colliery, Westbromwich, belonging to the Earl of 

 Dartmouth, I believe in the year 1846 or 1847. Another 

 pair, and a pair of Spotted Flycatchers, each built their nests 

 in one post of a hovel in my orchard this year; the nests 

 not more than six inches apart. One of the Redbreasts 

 became attached to me by some means unknown; it attended 

 me always when in the garden, and hopped on my feet when 

 I turned up a worm. It now attends at the door, and will 

 enter the house and perch near me for crumbs.' 



In such situations it is ordinarily placed, but a variety of 

 others are at times chosen, some of then whimsical enough. 

 One pair built their nest in a disused saw-pit, and although 

 after the female had begun to sit it was again worked in, 

 and though the persons employed continued at their occupation 

 close to the nest every day, during the hatching of the eggs 

 and the rearing of the young, yet the old birds, apparently 

 without alarm, completed their task. To begin a nest in a 

 saw-pit in which work is being carried on, and to rear their 

 young without fear of the men, is quite a common occurrence. 

 Another pair reared three successive broods in an uninhabited 

 cottage, adjoining a blacksmith's forge, the first nest being 

 built in a child's cart, hung against the wall, and this, though 

 constantly inspected by the neighbours who became aware of 

 the circumstance, the second on a shelf close to an old mouse- 

 trap, and the third on another shelf on a bundle of papers. 

 The passing and re-passing of persons by the nest all through 

 the day is often seemingly altogether unheeded. In one 

 instance a nest has been observed placed in a school-room where 

 there was a continual noise throughout the day. One has been 

 known to be built. in a watering-pot, hung up to the branch 

 of an apple tree by a path in a garden, and several other 

 instances of the like kind have occurred. Another in the 



