i6o NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



and picked the crambs from the floor. His father, being 

 very fond of animals, took great pleasure in taming this bird, 

 and so completely succeeded, that it would pick small pieces 

 of raw flesh and worms from his hand, sat on the table at 

 which he wrote, and, when the day was very cold, perched 

 upon the fender. When a stranger entered, it flew to the 

 top of a door, where it perched every night. The window 

 was frequently opened to admit air, but the robin never 

 offered to go away. As the spring advanced, and the weather 

 became fine, it flew away every morning, and returned every 

 evening, till the time of incubation arrived, and it then flew 

 away altogether. At the next fall of the year it again asked 

 for admittance, and behaved exactly in the same manner as 

 before. It did this a third time, but when it flew away the 

 ensuing spring, it was never seen again." Robins have been 

 known to build their nests in queer places. Mrs. Bowdich 

 tells of one which attached its nest to the Bible of the parish 

 church of Hampton, Warwickshire, and of others which built 

 theirs on the reading desk of a church in Wiltshire and 

 deposited six eggs in it. 

 The Intelligence The Robin is an intelligent little bird and 



of the Bobtn. some pretty stories are told of its sagacity. 

 Mrs. Bowdich mentions a gardener who was in the service 

 of a friend of hers, who having made a pet of a robin, was 

 one day much struck with the uneasiness of his little friend, 

 and concluding that he wanted assistance followed him to 

 his nest, which occupied a flower pot, when he discovered 

 that a snake had coiled itself round the little home. Happily 

 the gardener was in time to save the birds though at the 

 snake's expense. In " The Gardener's Chronicle " there is a 

 story, quoted by Mrs. Bowdich, of a robin which having been 

 caught young and kept with a nightingale, learned the night- 

 ingale's song so perfectly as to be indistinguishable in per- 

 formance. 



The Titmouse. There are several varieties of the Titmouse; 



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