THE ROBIN 



ERHHACUS RUBECULA 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA: A common and widely dis- 

 tributed resident, its numbers increased during migration. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : The Robin is another common London bird, 

 although one that is much more frequently seen in the 

 inner Metropolitan area during winter than at other 

 times, when it seems to retire to remoter districts to bring 

 up its brood. It is in autumn, perhaps, when the 

 universality of its distribution is most apparent. It may 

 be met with in almost every spot where a wild bird can 

 find shelter, from well within the two-mile radius to the 

 uttermost limits of the circle we have selected, becoming 

 commoner, of course, as the suburbs become more rural 

 and vegetation more abundant. How near to St. Paul's 

 it may breed is rather a difficult question to solve. It 

 may possibly do so in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, 

 in St. James's Park and Hyde Park, as well as in Battersea 

 Park ; that it does so at Clapham, Dulwich, Kilburn, 

 Brondesbury, and Hampstead there can be no doubt ; 

 whilst further afield, at Tooting, Wimbledon, Chiswick, 

 Gunnersbury, Acton, Harlesden, Highgate, Wanstead, 

 and other suburbs, it becomes, of course, increasingly 

 numerous. In winter there are few suitable suburban 

 grounds and gardens where it may not be detected, 

 whilst in exceptionally severe weather it visits localities 

 where its presence may justly excite surprise. 



Although the London suburbs are visited in autumn 

 and winter by numbers of Robins that not only come in 

 from the country districts round about, but even from 

 Continental Europe, the " Cockney " individuals wander 

 little from their usual retreats, nesting in them. Most 

 42 



