i88 
NATURE NOTES 
A short distance away, out on the open down, a few bell- 
flowers, and scabious, and yellow toadflax survive, but more 
prominent than these are the dead, gaunt thistles that stand up 
everywhere. It is in the full blaze of summer that the botanist 
will find his treasures here : they are over and perished now. 
The autumn afternoon soon comes to an end. Overhead 
the wood-pigeons and rooks are flying homewards, the sun is 
sinking over the distant hills, the mists are rising in the valleys ; 
and the dampness of the grass and the chilliness of the air warn 
the idler on the gate that it is time for him also to plod his 
homeward way. 
Herbert E. U. Bull. 
PERSEVERANCE REWARDED. 
WRITE the story of a pair of robins. Last winter the 
little birds seemed to have come to the conclusion 
that the temperature of a warm house was prefer- 
able to the chilly atmosphere outside ; they therefore 
came in the moment a door was opened, and though continually 
driven out, they generally managed to make themselves com- 
fortable for the night on the curtain poles. 
In the early spring, with milder weather, they were less 
frequently seen, but as nesting-time came, and the doors and 
windows were more often open, it was found impossible to keep 
them out of the house. One of them was caught, and in the 
hope of stopping their familiarity he was sent to an artist friend 
about a mile distant, who was painting a picture of which a 
robin formed part. My friend kept the bird several days, but 
when no longer required he released him, and within a few 
minutes he was back again in his old quarters. 
They then commenced work in earnest. They made their 
first nest in the servant’s bedroom, fixing it between the curtain 
pole and the wall, and being disturbed they made another on 
the clothes pegs in the corner. Next they tried to build on the 
top of a cupboard in another servant’s bedroom, then in a work- 
basket, and they even endeavoured to make a nest in the bed- 
clothes when turned back daily to air. 
Ihey then selected the loop of a door curtain, but as this 
was objectionable for obvious reasons it was removed, and the 
cock bird was found next morning standing near the place and 
looking most disconsolate. After making a nest in a bookcase 
they finally went back again to the top of the servant’s cup- 
board, and before their presence was detected they had a nest 
with five eggs, and I need hardly say that their perseverance 
was rewarded and they were let alone. 
But the most curious part of the tale remains to be told. 
As soon as the eggs were hatched the birds were under the 
