4 
EEDBKEAST. 
and also in some pots lianging in one of the ontdoor ferneries. At first I was of opinion that Bats had 
cauo-ht the insects, wliich nnmhered at least two or three hundred; shortly after, however, a Rohm was 
seen perched among the ferns with a moth in its heak. These birds are especially fond of wheat, six or 
eight grains being the utmost they consume at a time ; a few will take oats, but none I have Avatched 
attempted to swallow barley, which is doubtless unsuitable for digestion. On the 11th of Aupist, 1883, I 
noticed a young llobin with a partially red breast hovering over a barberry-bush and seizing the ripe 
berries in bis beak. After securing one or two he retired to the shelter of some of the adjoining shrubs 
to rest, returning shortly for a further supply; the prickly stems and leaves of the plant probably 
rendered it impossible for the bird to settle on tlie branches. 
Some vears back at a farm in the east of Sussex, I Avas shoAtm a most elaborately constructed 
cradle Avbich a Robin had built in the corner of a coop in Avhich a hen Avas confined with a 
brood of chickens, the two families appearing to agree in the most satisfactory manner. Though 
the Robins that resort to our ferneries have the option of building in most comfortable quarters, 
the spots they select are at times exceedingly singular. On one occasion a nest Avas placed on the bare 
ground bcloAv the spreading fronds of a large root of Scolopendrium. The young Avould doubtless have 
escaped undetected had not a strong volume from the hose, while AA’atering the ferns, induced them to 
turn out someAAdiat prematurely. Early in the present season a pair of birds gave themselves the 
trouble to scrape out the mould from a small crevice in the rockery in AAdiich to place their nest, 
though far more suitable quarters surrounded them on all sides. Large quantities of mould and sand 
Avere scratched out and a round stone Aveighing over a coujfie of ounces aa'us loosened and then dragged 
from its position, several pieces of broken brick being also removed. Eor ten days or a fortnight from 
the 2Cth of Eebruary they AA'ere busily employed in this needless undertaking, and, oAving to the 
confined space, Avhen their Avork Avas accomplished the female wdiile sitting appeared exceedingly cramped, 
the tail being doubled iqi at right angles to her body. The brood having been hatched in due 
course, the five youngsters so completely blocked up the space that one or tAvo AA'ere forced out of the 
aperture on to the ledge outside. Profiting by past experience, the old birds selected for their 
second nest a much more extensive cavity among the blocks of stone. Another pair liaA'ing at- 
tempted to build in the drooping tendrils of a creeping rock-plant, ev'entually discovered that their 
nest AA'as too lieaA^y for its supports to bear the AAeight. Undaunted by their first failure, a second 
nest AA'as commenced in an adjoining plant, and to this structure they built up a foundation from the 
sprouting fronds of a strong root of Lastrea FiUx-mas. The mass of dead leaAms and moss they had 
gathered together measured just over fourteen inches in height and occupied the birds a Aveek to 
collect. Though a fortnight or three Aveeks often elapses from the time of the commencement of their 
nest till eggs are laid, Robins, Avhen pressed for time, can be far more expeditious. A few Aveeks back 
a pair bad just completed their second nest on a shelf in a summer-house Avhen the remoA'al of a 
hail 1)1 oom into Avhich one side of their edifice had been entAA'ined gaA'e offenee, and another nest uas 
begun in a coil of rope (the stays ol a lawn-tennis net) on the same shelf, and only a few feet distant 
fiom the pre\ious one. ibis AA'as commenced soon after midday on the 27th of April, and an egg AA'as laid 
on the following day. The materials AA^ere certainly someAvhat scanty, though the cradle w'as carefully 
lined, the coil of a rope assisting to form a sufficiently substantial exterior. 
lliough beneficial to a certain extent in the ferneries, the Robins take great delight in detaching 
small pieces of moss from the stones ; at times a concealed grub may offer an excuse for these attacks, 
though I fully believe the pure loA'e of mischief prompts them in most instances to commit these 
depredations. 
Occasionally aftei dark the male that frequents our indoor fernery approaches the entrance to the 
