REDBREAST. 85 
Sup-FraMILy SyYLvIINa#. 
REDBREAST. 
ERITHAcUs RUBECULA, Linn. 
Pl. VIIL., figs. 7-10. 
Geogr. distr.—Throughout Europe, visiting Algeria, Lower Egypt, 
and Palestine in winter; also found in Persia, Madeira, the Canaries, 
Azores, and Teneriffe ; common and resident in Great Britain. 
Food.— Worms, insects in all stages, seeds, berries, and fruits. 
Nest.—Strongly and compactly built when necessary, but when in 
holes carelessly put together, formed of fine roots, bass, or coarse, 
dead grass, bents, hair and moss, and lined with hair fibre and fine 
grasses; a few oak leaves are frequently interwoven in the outer 
walls, which render it in a measure like the nest of the Nightingale; 
when built in holes a good deal of moss is used. 
Position of nest.—In holes in grassy banks, in deserted chalk-pits, 
or at the side of a road; in holes or crannies in rocks, walls, outhouses, 
dust-bins ; in holes in trees or in the ground at the foot of a tree or ivy- 
grown stump ; in flower-pots, watering pots, pewter quart pots, hanging 
on a nail or fence; in ivy on a wall; in the side of a bean-stack; in 
fact, almost anywhere where a nest can find a secure lodgment 
without the necessity for strong attachment to its environment, as in 
nests built in trees or bushes. 
Number of eggs. - 4-6; rarely less than 5, occasionally 7. 
Time of nidication.—ITI-VII; May and June. 
The Robin is one of the most useful and attractive birds; 
its food consisting chiefly of worms and insects, to obtain 
which it will follow one about, and even perch upon the 
spade with which one is digging; indeed, so fearless does 
it become if allowed to be familiar, that I have sometimes 
been afraid of injuring it when gardening; it appears to 
like to be talked to, and shows signs of impatience when 
taken no notice of. In choosing a place for its nest the 
Robin certainly prefers the habitations of men to the 
open country, though the nest is abundant enough in 
holes in high grassy banks skirting woods, particularly 
where scraps of ivy partly cover the soil, or where there 
are projecting moss-grown stumps of decayed trees. 
