44 Birds I Have Kept. 



Rotins usually have two broods of young ones during the 

 season, laying from five to seven eggs of a yellowish white 

 colour, speckled with spots and lines of a brick red at the 

 larger end. The young are hatched in about fourteen days, 

 and are fed entirely on insects, grubs and caterpillars 

 chiefly. 



When wild these birds eat every kind of insect they can 

 lay hold of, as well as earthworms, of which they devour 

 vast numbers; a Robin thinking nothing of swallowing a great 

 worm as long as himself, or longer. In autumn the Robin 

 eats berries, and is especially fond of white currants, while 

 in winter he will satisfy his hunger on any scraps he can 

 find. In the house he will thrive on bread-crumbs, grated 

 carrot, yolk of egg, and sponge-cake, all mixed up together 

 lightly, but not wetted, as the grated carrot imparts sufficient 

 moisture to the mass, which should be prepared fresh every 

 morning: it is also advisable to add a few insects daily, 

 mealworms, small garden worms, blaokbeetles or gentles. Some 

 writers recommend that crushed hempseed should form a con- 

 siderable part of the Robin's food, which I think is a mistake; 

 for the little particles of shell which it is impossible to separate 

 from the bruised seed are very indigestible, and cause much 

 suffering to those soft-billed birds that are compelled to swallow 

 them. The Robin is fond of bathing, so fond, that I once 

 caught one that had so thoroughly wetted itself that it could 

 not fly away. 



In my dear old Brittany home Robins were very numerous, 

 and we usually offered an asylum during the winter to one 

 of these birds, which would never permit another of the same 

 species to share its retreat, so that the rest of the little com- 

 pany had to be fed out of doors. I once saw a Robin in 

 the refreshment-room of a country railway-station, perched on 

 a champagne bottle on the topmost shelf behind the bar; 

 whence, as soon as the coast was clear, he descended to pick 

 up the crumbs left upon the counter, returning, as soon as 



