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6 



shoe was likely to be wanted, and as it would not be benefited by being used as a cradle, tbe 

 nest was carefully taken out and deposited in an old shoe, which was put in the situation of the 

 new one. Here what remained to be done to the nest was completed : the under part of the shoe 

 was filled up with oak leaves ; the eggs were deposited in the nest, and in due time hatched, the 

 windows of the room being always left a little open for the entrance and egress of the birds. My 

 friend informed me that it was pleasing to see the great confidence the Eobins placed in him. 

 Sometimes, in the morning, the old birds would settle on the top of his glass, nor did they 

 seem the least alarmed at his presence." He further writes that " a gentleman had directed a 

 waggon to be packed, intending to send it to Worthing, where he himself was going. For some 

 reason his journey was delayed; and he therefore directed that the waggon should be placed in a 

 shed in the yard, packed as it was, till it should be convenient for him to send it off. While it 

 was in the shed a pair of Robins built their nest among some straw in it, and had hatched their 

 young just before it was sent away. One of the old birds, instead of being frightened away by 

 the motion of the waggon, only left the nest from time to time for the purpose of flying to the 

 nearest hedge for food for its young; and thus alternately affording warmth and nourishment to 

 them, it arrived at Worthing. The affection of this bird having been observed by the waggoner, 

 he took care in unloading not to disturb the Robin's nest ; and the Robin and its young returned 

 in safety to Walton Heath, being the place from whence they had set out, the distance travelled 

 not being less than one hundred miles. Whether it was the male or female Robin which kept 

 with the waggon I have not been able to ascertain, but most probably the latter ; for what will 

 not a mother's love and a mother's tenderness induce her to do." 



Usually the nest of the Redbreast is placed in some grassy bank in a well-sheltered locality ; 

 and the number of eggs varies from five to seven, the former being, so far as my own personal 

 observation is concerned, the usual number. In colour the eggs are white, with a slight reddish 

 tinge, and are spotted all over the surface of the egg with more or less distinct reddish dots and 

 blotches, these being often almost confluent. Two eggs in my collection are almost pure white, 

 except that a few spots are collected round the larger end, forming a sort of wreath round it. 

 Eggs in my collection vary in size from f § by f£ to f ^ by f§ inch, those from Southern Europe 

 being a trifle smaller than British specimens. Mr. Carl Sachse, writing to me from Altenkirchen, 

 Rhenish Prussia, where the Redbreast is very common, says that " it arrives in March and leaves in 

 September or October, some, however, wintering there. The nest is usually found in rotten logs 

 on the banks of the stream, in ruts in deserted roads, under filbert-trees, &c. ; it is always covered 

 by something, even if it be only by a bunch of grass. I have also found it in hollow trees 

 lg metre above the ground. Most nests are found in the dense fir- and beech-woods. Once I 

 found its nest in a hollow pear-tree, 1*3 metre from the ground; and 2 metres higher in the same 

 tree Pants major had deposited its eggs, It lays from six to seven eggs, and breeds twice in the 

 year. I have taken its eggs from the 1st May to the Cth July, and have frequently found 

 Cuckoo's eggs in nests of this species." Macgillivray gives some excellent notes on the niclifi- 

 cation of the Robin as follows : — " Although most of the Redbreasts retire from the vicinity of 

 human habitations in summer, and betake themselves to the woods and hedges, yet some go to 

 no great distance, but take up their abode in a hedge, or a copse, or on a mossy bank, close to 

 their winter haunts. It does not appear that they remain paired in winter; at all events they 



