198 OUR NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



It is in just such places as these that one would 

 look for a robin's nest ; but our bird by no means 

 confines itself to such, for it sometimes makes a 

 selection of some most strange and out of the way 

 spot. Thus, a pair of robins have been known to 

 rear their young in the festoon of an unused bed ; 

 others, in a hothouse among some strawbeny 

 plants, and under the immediate eye of the gar- 

 dener. Another pair strewed the withered leaves, 

 by way of beginning, on the shelves of a gentle- 

 man's library, intending to rear their yoimg ones 

 in a learned neiglibourhood. On one occasion, a 

 pair of redbreasts chose for their abode a potato 

 warehouse, close to a blacksmitli\s shop, which was 

 frequently visited by the owners, besides that it 

 resounded with tlie perpetual din of forge and anvil 

 from the dwelliug near it. Nothing daunted, how- 

 ever, the robins entered tlirough an open window- 

 pane, and built their first nest in a toy-cart, 

 which was hanging over the fireplace. Many 

 of the neighbours, attracted by the singularity 

 of the circumstance, visited the nest ; but the 

 birds reared their first brood in peace and hope. 

 When the younglings flew away, the redbreasts 

 began preparing for another family, and they 



