REDBREAST. 
59 
Our island appears to be the most northern country in 
which this species remains during the winter. In Saxony, 
which is in the same parallel of latitude as our most southern 
counties, these birds are only summer visitors, arriving in 
March and departing in November, never remaining the 
whole winter with impunity. 
That some Redbreasts of northern origin pass the winter 
in this country, we have long thought probable, from the 
great increase to their numbers which is generally to be 
observed as soon as the cold weather sets in. At the present 
season, November, when our gardens and orchards are more 
frequented by Redbreasts than at any other period of the 
year, we have listened with surprise to the great numbers 
that may still be heard singing in the open country. On 
the 14th of this month, a day warm and fine, but which had 
been preceded by a short period of cold weather, we were 
strengthened in the belief that our native Redbreasts are 
o 
sometimes joined by a foreign migration, by listening, in a 
well-wooded district, to the innumerable songsters of this 
species that were to be heard all around. The day was still 
and warm, and their little voices could be heard from a 
great distance, from tree, and hill, and valley, as they an¬ 
swered one another in joyous response. Why should they 
not in this country as in others obey the great law of nature 
for their comfort and preservation, and why should not Eng¬ 
land serve as a winter asylum to many of this species that 
have been reared more northward ? Especially as there ap¬ 
pears something in the climate of England congenial to these 
birds. Probably the cause may be referred to the constant 
changes in the atmosphere, which prevent the temperature 
from continuing very low for many days together. 
The Redbreast begins to breed early, nearly as early as 
the hedge-sparrow, and often while the snow is still upon 
the ground. The same memorandum in a friend’s manuscript 
