SYLVIA RUBECULA. 
REBREAST. 
Generic Character. See Sylvia luscinia. 
Synonyms. 
Sylvia Rubecula. Ind, Orn. 520. 
MoTAciLLA Rubecula. Lin. Si/st. 1. p. 337. 45. 
Redbreast. Br.ZooL 147. Ib.foL 100. tab. S.Jig. 2. 
Lath Si/n, 4. p. 443. 38. Mont. Orn. 
Did. Bewick's Br. Birds, Pt. 1. p, 216. 
Egg. Ovarium, Brit. Ft. 1. 
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A HIS species is in length five inches and a half, and 
in breadth eight inches and a half, and it weighs about ten 
drams; the Redbreast is too common to require further 
description. Both sexes are alike in colour. 
The Redbreast builds early in April, and forms its 
nest usually in the hollow of an old tree, generally near the 
ground, it will sometimes build in an out-house or in a mossy 
bank ; the nest is composed of moss, small dry stalks and ^ 
leaves, and lined with hair ; they lay from six to eight eggs, of 
an opaque whitish brown colour spotted with light and dark 
brown, the largest spots are of the deepest colour ; the young 
for the first two or three months are spotted, and may readily 
pass for some other species ; they do not attain their full 
plumage till after the first moult. 
At the approach of winter these birds forsake the woods, 
as they no longer contain a supply of insects, they then 
repair to our habitations, picking up such insects as the 
garden alFords ; as the weather becomes more severe, they, 
by their actions, seem to implore our further protection ; 
they advance at first with great caution, to pick such crumbs 
as 
