THE REDBREAST. 311 
that feed upon the blossoms of fruit-trees. The softer berries form part of 
the Redstart’s diet, but the bird does not seem to care about the hard seeds. 
THERE are few birds which are more familiar to us than the REDBREAST, 
or ROBIN, a bird which is interwoven among our earliest recollections, 
through the medium of “The Children in the Wood” and the mournful 
ballad of “The Death and Burial of Cock Robin.” 
Although the Redbreast remains in England throughout the winter, it is 
very susceptible to cold, and one of the first birds to seek for shelter, its 
appearance among the outhouses being always an indication of coming 
inclemency. In cold weather, the Redbreast seldom perches upori twigs and 
branches, but crouches in holes or sits upon the ground. The bird seems 
strongly attached to man and his home, and will follow the ploughman over 
the fields, picking up the worms which he turns up with the ploughshare, or 
enter his house and partake of his evening meal. 
The nest of this bird is generally placed near the ground in a thick leafy 
bush, or in a bank, and is composed of dry leaves, moss, grass, hair, and 
feathers. I have seen the nest very well concealed among the thick ivy that 
had wreathed round a tree-trunk, and placed about eight feet from the 
ground. The bird seldom flies directly to its nest, or leaves it directly, but 
alights at a little distance, and creeps through the leaves or branches until it 
enters its home. 
The eggs of the Redbreast are generally five in number, as is the case with 
most of the song-birds, and their colour is greyish white, covered with 
variously-sized spots of pale rusty red. The song of this bird is very sweet 
and pleasing ; and it is a pretty sight to observe two or more Redbreasts 
perched on different trees, and answering each other with their musical cries. 
‘Whenever the Redbreast perches on the top of a tree or other elevated spot, 
and begins to sing merrily, it is an unfailing indication that the weather of 
the coming day promises to be fair. The bird sings throughout the greater 
part of the year, beginning early in spring, and continuing it very late into 
the autumn. Even in the winter months, a bright sunny day is apt to excite 
the Robin to perch upon a twig and pour forth a sweet though broken 
melody. 
The colour of the male Robin is bright olive-brown on the back, orange- 
red on the throat, chin, breast, forehead, and round the eye. A stripe of 
blue-grey runs round the red, and the abdomen and lower part of the breast 
are white. The bill and eyes are black. The female is coloured after the 
same manner, but the tints are not so vivid as in her mate. The total length 
of the bird is nearly six inches, and its weight about half an ounce. 
OF the pretty though sober-plumaged Accentors, we have one or two 
British examples, that which is best known being the HEDGE ACCENTOR, or 
HEDGE SPARROW, as it is often, though wrongly, called, as it by no means 
belongs to the same group of birds. 
The Hedge Accentor is very common through the whole of England, and 
may be heard in the gardens, copses, and hedge-rows, chanting its pleasing 
and plaintive melody without displaying much fear of its auditors. 
It is especially adapted for living among hedges, as it possesses a singular 
facility in threading its way through the twigs, stems, and branches. It 
seems equally at home in dried brushwood, and may often be seen traversing 
the interior of a woodpile with perfect ease. The nest is one of the earliest 
to be built, and is frequently completed and the eggs laid before the genial 
warmth of spring has induced the green leaves to burst their inclosures. 
The nest is generally placed at a very low elevation, seldom more than 
two or three feet from the ground, and it is rather large in proportion to the 
size of the bird, The materials of which the structure is made are various 
