27 6 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
The favourite resort of the Nightingale for nesting purposes 
is the tangled bushes which clothe a lane leading along the 
outside of a wood, and in such places the bird may occasionally 
be seen flitting across the road or hopping out of its dense retreat 
to pick up some insect. On these occasions its ways recall the 
actions of a Robin, in which bird the Nightingale undoubtedly 
finds a very close ally. It is almost entirely a ground-feeder, 
and picks up worms, ants, and other insects and larva;, while 
the young are said to be fed entirely on caterpillars. In 
autumn it feeds on fruit and berries like the Warblers. 
Nest. — 1 his is very characteristic, being formed principally 
of dead leaves and grass, which give the outside a somewhat 
ragged appearance, the inside, however, being more neatly 
finished off, rather deep, and lined with grasses or rootlets and 
occasionally with horsehair. 
Eggs. — Four or five in number, rarely six. Ground-colour 
olive-brown or olive-green, occasionally dull bluish-green. The 
olive-brown eggs appear perfectly uniform, but in the green 
type of eggs there is generally some olive-brown clouding the 
larger end, or forming a dense ring of brown spots. Occasion- 
ally the eggs are of a deep bright blue colour. Axis, o'8-o‘9 
inch ; diam., o'6-o'65. (Plate xxix., fig. 6.) 
THE REDBREASTS. GENUS ERITHACUS. 
Erithacus, Cuv., Lemons Anat. Comp., tab. ii. (1801). 
Type, E. rukcula (Linn.). 
The Robins are miniature Thrushes, having the spotted 
young which prove them to be members of the family Tur- 
dida. The brighter coloration of the birds has something to 
do with their separation as a distinct genus from the Thrushes 
on the one hand and the Redstarts on the other. The type of 
egg of the Robins, however, is different from that of any of the 
allied genera, whilst the similarity of the colour of the sexes 
separates them from the Redstarts, and allies them to the 
Thrushes and Nightingales. According to the divisions of the 
Turdidtz recently proposed by Mr. Oates, in his “Fauna of 
British India,” the Redbreasts would come within his definition 
of the Ruticillinos (p. 8i) and would come near to the genus 
