SYLVIAD^:. 81 



crumbs, meat, and nearly anything that can be got 

 by begging. The single one in my aviary lives 

 much the same as the Hedgesparrows, and seems 

 very fond of ants and their eggs. 



The nest is usually placed by the side of a bank, 

 or in thick ivy on a wall, or in some low bush, but 

 various, and occasionally rather odd, situations are 

 chosen : it is made of moss, dry grass, dead leaves, 

 &c., and is lined with hair and a few feathers. 



The Robin has the bill black ; the irides black ; 

 head, neck, back, scapulars, wing and tail-coverts 

 olive-brown; greater wing-coverts slightly tipped 

 with buff; a streak over the base of the beak, and 

 over the eyes, as well as the throat and breast, 

 orange ; a narrow band of bluish grey surrounds all 

 the lower part of the orange; thighs, flanks and 

 under tail-coverts lighter olive-brown than the back ; 

 belly nearly white ; quills and tail olive-brown, each 

 feather edged with a lighter shade ; legs, toes and 

 claws brown. The young birds before the first 

 moult have the feathers of the upper parts tipped 

 with very pale brown ; those of the throat and 

 breast tinged with reddish brown and margined with 

 dark brown. Varieties of the Robin occasionally 

 occur. 



The eggs are about the size of those of the 

 Hedgesparrow ; of a white ground, slightly tinged 

 with green, spotted with light rust-colour, the spots 

 being most numerous at the larger end, where they 



