MIGRATION AND FLIGHT. Ill 



built, and which had been destroyed, as while it 

 remained, the screen was of course useless to the 

 family. 



In this nest three broods were reared as before, 

 notwithstanding the almost constant presence of the 

 porter and his wife, who lived and slept in the 

 room. In the spring of the third year, the male 

 again made his appearance with another mate, evi- 

 dently much younger than its predecessor. The old 

 nest on the ledge was examined, but for some rea- 

 son, the birds were not satisfied with its situation, 

 and as the clothes-screen was hanging in the same 

 situation it had occupied the first year, after a couple 

 of days' hesitation, they constructed a new nest on 

 the favourite screen, and the business of hatching 

 and rearing the young ones went regularly on. The 

 male bird, indeed, seemed to have acquired increased 

 confidence, never manifesting alarm at the number 

 of visitors which so curious a circumstance attracted 

 to the lodge ; whereas, the female continued very 

 shj'-, and was on the alert, and ready to take wing 

 when anybody approached too near. It was re- 

 marked in this, as in the preceding case, that no 

 young birds, from the-' moment of their taking wing, 

 ever returned to the house, either for the purpose of 

 forming nests of their own in so safe and comfortable 

 an asylum, or disputing possession with the old ones 

 for the tenement in which they were born and bred. 

 But, besides these regular migratory birds, others 

 seem to possess a similar instinctive power; for 

 instance, a Robin, which frequented a greenhouse, 

 was caught, and a piece of silk being tied round its 

 leg, it was put into a bag, and carried to a distance 



