90 
MIGRATION AND FLIGHT. 
as its mate. They both forthwith set about building a new 
nest on a small ledge, which had been prepared for them, as 
near as possible to the place where that on the clothes screen 
had been built, and which had been destroyed ; as, while it 
remained, the screen was of course useless to the family. 
In this nest three broods were reared as before, notwith- 
standing the almost constant presence of the porter and his 
wife, who lived and slept in the room. In the spring of the 
third year, the male again made his appearance with another 
mate, evidently much younger than its predecessor. The old 
nest on the ledge was examined, hut for some reason the birds 
were not satisfied with its situation, and as the clothes-screen 
was hanging in the same situation it had occupied the first 
year, after a couple of days’ hesitation they constructed a new 
nest on the favourite screen, and the business of hatching and 
rearing the young ones went regularly on. The male bird, 
indeed, seemed to have acquired increased confidence, never 
manifesting alarm at the number of visitors which so curious 
a circumstance attracted to the lodge; whereas the female 
continued very shy, and was on the alert, and ready to take 
wing when anybody approached too near. It was remarked 
in this, as in the preceding case, that no young birds, from 
the moment of their taking wing, ever returned to the house, 
either for the purpose of forming nests of their own in so safe 
and comfortable an asylum, or disputing possession with the 
old ones for the tenement in which they were horn and bred. 
But, besides these regular migratory birds, others seem to 
possess a similar instinctive power; for instance, a Robin 
which frequented a greenhouse was caught, and a piece of silk 
being tied round its leg, it was put into a hag, and carried to 
a distance of some miles, and then turned loose. In three 
days it was found in the greenhouse. 
One other peculiarity in the periodical visits of birds to 
their breeding stations, is the punctuality of their arrival. 
There is seldom the difference of a week, and frequently not 
that of a day, in the time of the appearance of some parti- 
cular species. Of course we cannot be accurate in most cases, 
from not being able to fix on the exact moment of a bird’s 
