Houses ^ Gardens 7 



pressed within, and the eggs, a clutch of four, lying in 

 the small cup of horse-hair. 



Not long ago I heard of a country rector who, 

 having placed thirty-six bird-houses in his garden, was 

 rewarded by all but two of them being tenanted in one 

 season. Talking of redstarts, can any bird be lovelier 

 than the male with his black throat, the shining spot 

 of white on the forehead, the russet breast, and the 

 quivering tail of brightest orange-red ? 



A very conspicuous bird in the earlier spring, that 

 is to say, after the first week of April, at which time 

 he arrives from the great African continent. Very 

 conspicuous, too, when the young are hatched and 

 freshly flown ; but after that, showing only now and 

 then, retiring apparently into the thicker foliage of the 

 shrubberies and woods, until he leaves us for his winter 

 quarters in August and September. 



Robins are bold indeed in choosing certain spots in 

 which to build. For instance, a small potting-house, 

 approached from beneath a covered way, in which 

 gardeners are constantly working, was a birthplace 

 for five robins in our kitchen-garden precincts last 

 summer. 



In the farthest corner of this house a brick had 

 been dislodged from the white-washed wall. In the 

 cavity thus formed was the robin's nest, and the birds, 

 for the space is curtailed, had to fly past the gardeners 

 to reach it, the nest being on a level with, and within 

 two feet of the men's faces as they stood to their work 

 at the potting ledge. The birds had to enter at the door, 

 the only window being a closed skylight in the roof. 



