THE NEST OF THE REDBREAST. 
quantity of wood shavings, of which the sides of the nests 
are likewise formed, together with green moss, beech leaves, 
wool, tufts of cow hah% &c., but they are lined with horse hair 
only. The mass of materials of which these two nests are made, 
is about a foot and a half in length, eight inches in breadth, 
and five inches in thickness. On wet days the male bird kept 
much within the loft and sang there. The carpenter tells me 
that only one of them collected the leaves and shavings ; this 
individual was known from its wanting its tail ; it made very 
free with his pot of grease, and pecked from it while in his 
hand.” 
In the “ Magazine of Natural History,” published some years 
ago, there is a record of two robins building their nest on a 
bible, which lay in a reading-desk in the parish church of 
Hampton, in "Warwickshire. Mr. Jesse makes mention of a 
robin, which for several successive years resorted to a church 
at Dudley, Staffordshire ; during divine service the song of the 
bird would be heard mingling with the voices of the people and 
the deep solemn tones of the organ. In this way, the people 
got very attached to the pretty little warbler, and his absence 
one day was particularly noted, much to the sorrow of the 
congregation. But he returned no more, and some years after- 
wards, when our robin was almost forgotten, or the reminis- 
cences attached to it were perhaps only to be found in the store- 
house of memory, the organ was pulled down to be cleaned, and 
then, in one of the pipes, they discovered the skeleton of the 
redbreast. 
A curious fact connected with this bird’s nidification is the 
variety of material with which it builds its nest, as some think, 
varying with the situation in which it is placed. A very 
creditable authority thus alludes to this singular habit: — “The 
robin, which had its nest on the shelf of the greenhouse, sur- 
rounded it with a great quantity of oak -leaves ; while another, 
which for two years built amongst the straw which covered 
some seakale in my kitchen-garden, formed it of a small quan- 
tity of moss only, lined with hair. Another, which built in a 
trained gooseberry-bush, against the wall; used also moss and 
hair, with some few oak -leaves : and, in some instances, where 
these birds have used a large hole in a bank to build their nest 
in, the sides of the hole have been completely filled in with a 
great quantity of oak-leaves. I am inclined to think that 
some birds, and the robin amongst the number, vary the mate- 
rials with which their nests are built, not so much irom the 
o 2 195 
