192 OUR NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



It is well known to be among the most pugnacious 

 of birds, seeming to hail with delight any oppor- 

 tmiity of making a quarrel, and driving away, 

 with most determined resistance, any intruder into 

 the domain whicli it considers its own; so that 

 two nests are rarely found near together, thus 

 confi]*ming the old Latin proverb, " Two robins 

 cannot dwell in one bush." Nor does the red- 

 breast fight only with birds of its own species. 

 Tlie poor house-sparrow, itself rather a quarrel- 

 some bird, if one may judge from its perpetual 

 clamours with its companions, is pecked at wlien 

 no harm is done, by our wilful robin ; and even 

 the little merry, gentle, peace-loving hedge- 

 sparrow or dunnock, is buffeted with angry blows 

 by this quarrelsome bird. It is just the same 

 when kept in confinement. Either it must have 

 a room all to itself, or it will fight perpetuaUv with 

 another bird, till one of the two is fairly con- 

 quered. Bechstein says, that if two redbreasts 

 share a large room, they will divide it ; and each 

 taking possession of a half, will remain at peace, 

 unless one should pass its limits, in which case 

 war begins, and is kept up to the last extremity. 

 This, however, is only in cases where the strengtk 



