288 THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. 
it chooses the thickest coverts, hiding its nest with 
oak leaves. The hen lays four or five eggs, and v^e 
are assured that the young birds will sing before they 
have cast their first feathers. 
The trouble the redbreast takes to prepare a worm 
for food is truly ingenious : taking a worm in its 
beak at one end, he knocks it repeatedly on the 
ground, till the inside comes entirely away, then 
taking it by the other end, he cleanses the outer part, 
which is the only portion of the worm that he eats. 
It is surprising to see with what expertness they 
will perform this operation, and the number of worms 
they will despatch in the course of a day, when they 
have young ones to feed. These juvenile warblers 
do not attain all their beauty till the following year. 
As I observed before, the redbreast is seldom 
confined in a cage, though I have known instances 
of their being made prisoners, and of their repaying 
those who had confined them with the sweetest me- 
lancholy strain, singing at night when the candles 
were in the room. This was truly returning good 
for evil. What a lesson for man! I dearly love 
the robin, and I love his sweet voice, but it is when 
he is free, and comes hopping and warbling along 
