The Robin 



nest ; this is generally in some hole in a bank or wall, at no 

 great height from the ground, and concealed with consider- 

 able care. The nest itself is chiefly composed of moss, with 

 a lining of horsehair carefully felted together. The Eobin 

 is an early breeder, the nest being often completed by the 

 end of February or early in March, but the eggs, usually 

 six in number and of a pale reddish-buff colour, sometimes 

 nearly white with red spots, are not, as a rule, laid till quite 

 the end of March or beginning of April. As is customary 

 in this family the incubation is carried on by the hen alone, 

 while he roams about the vicinity, feeding her as oppor- 

 tunity offers, or sitting on some twig trilling forth his 

 song. After the young are hatched he has but little 

 time for singing, and has to work with a will to keep 

 the six hungry youngsters satisfied, the hen also assist- 

 ing him. When they leave the nest the young are clad 

 in a uniformly mottled greyish -green plumage, which, 

 however, is soon moulted, and they then become like their 

 parents. 



The first brood off their hands, the parents busy them- 

 selves with a second, and sometimes even with a third, and 

 then towards the end of July they become restless, and 

 both old and young are seen no more in their summer 

 haunts. We shall not have long to wait however, probably 

 some casual wanderers will frequently be seen, here to-day 

 and gone to-morrow, wandering about in an irresponsive 

 manner as the spirit moves them but as the leaves fall 

 and the days shorten, these wanderings will cease, and we 

 shall find a cheery robin at our windows day after day, a 

 bright spot of vigorous life in the midst of the sleeping 



37 



