96 RUDDY-BREASTED BIRDS. 



peculiar shivering motion of the tail, practised 

 always just after alighting. 



' YELLOWHAMMER— 6J inches. A bird that shows fairly 

 bright chestnut on the lower back during flight, but 

 the outer tail-feathers are conspicuously white, and the 

 bird itself is for the most part yellow. 



REDBREAST (ROBIN).— Plate 42. Length, 5f 

 inches. Upper parts olive-brown ; wing and tail 

 feathers dark brown ; breast bright red, with a blue- 

 gray tract on each side ; centre of breast and belly 

 white ; flanks brown ; bill narrow, pointed, dark ; legs 

 dark. Resident. 



Eggs. — 5-7, white, softly clouded and spotted with 

 pale ruddy-brown ; '8 x '6 inch (plate 125). 



Nest. — Of dry grass, moss, and leaves, lined with 



hair and some feathers, and placed in a hole in 



trees, walls, banks, in derelict pots and pans, and 

 the like. 



Distribution.— General. 



Brown above, white below, and red in front, the 

 Redbreast is more boldly and simply marked than 

 any other ruddy - breasted bird. He is with us 

 throughout the year, a constant visitor to our gardens 

 in winter, but drawing off to some extent in spring 

 to nest in hedge and ditch bankg, holes in trees or 

 ivy -clad walls, and a hundred curious situations 

 having the common feature that they aiford a 

 hollow shelter for the nest. He is well known as 

 a nester also in outhouses. When on the ground the 

 Redbreast hops ; when perched — generally on some 



