THE REDBREAST. 35 



We can remember, indeed, a Robin hopping more 

 than once, familiarly, as if aware how safe from 

 peril it was at such a moment, upon our own Bible, 

 as it lay open before us, reading the lessons on a 

 Christmas-day. 



We shall close our anecdotes of singular situations 

 chosen for building nests, with an instance of a 

 Sparrow, who, like the preceding Robin, attached 

 herself to a church, but instead of the parish Bible, 

 selected the middle of a carved thistle, which deco- 

 rated the top of the pulpit in a chapel at Kennaway, 

 in Scotland. It found free ingress and egress, by 

 in cans of the windows, which were left open for the 

 purpose of airing the chapel in the week-days. 

 This bird might literally be said to have verified the 

 words of the Psalmist, " The Sparrow hath found 

 an house, where she may lay her young, even thine 

 altars, O Lord/' 



Most of the birds of this tribe are migratory, 

 either partially, or altogether so; we mean, that 

 while the Nightingales, Willow-wrens, and others, 

 disappear entirely from our shores, and retire to 

 distant and more congenial climates, others, such as 

 the Wagtails, only move from one part of England 

 to another. The exact times of their appearance 

 and departure, it would be desirable to ascertain, 

 with reference to state of weather, direction of the 

 wind, and prevalence of particular insects, &c. In 

 short, the same principle holds good in natural his- 

 tory as in other sciences : namely, the importance of 

 noting down observations, however trivial they may 

 appear at the time, as the most minute circumstance 

 may possibly, when connected with other inquiries, 



