236 
THE REDBREAST. 
that identical pigeon-hole. Why the visits were not renewed 
every year it is impossible to conjecture, but that the pair of 
the present year were either the same old birds, or young 
ones of the brood then reared in it, is more than probable, 
from the circumstance of this pigeon-hole being again 
selected ; when others, forming the school-library within the 
same framework, would have equally suited the purpose. 
Another nest was constructed, and for two successive 
years, in a still more extraordinary situation, which we give, 
not on our own authority, # but fully believing it, corro- 
borated, as it may in a manner be said to be, by the proofs 
of confidence already given. A few years ago, a pair of 
Robins took up their abode in the parish church of Hampton, 
in Warwickshire, and affixed their nest to the church Bible, 
as it lay on the reading-desk. The vicar would not allow 
the birds to be disturbed, and therefore supplied himself with 
another Bible, from which he read the lessons of the service. 
A similar instance occurred at Collingbourne Kingston church, 
in Wiltshire, on the 13th of April, 1834 : the clerk, on 
looking out for the lessons of the day, perceived something 
under the Bible in the reading-desk, and in a hollow place, 
occasioned by the Bible’s resting on a raised ledge, found a 
Robin’s nest containing two eggs. The bird not having 
been disturbed, laid four more, which were hatched on the 
4th of May. The still more extraordinary part of the story 
is, that the cock-bird actually brought food in its bill, and 
fed the young brood during divine service, which is per- 
formed twice every Sunday ; and it is further highly cre- 
ditable to the parishioners, particularly the junior portion of 
them, that the birds were never molested, and not an attempt 
ever suspected to be made on the nest and eggs deposited in 
so hallowed a spot. 
We can remember, indeed, a Robin hopping more than 
otice familiarly, as if aware how safe from peril it was at 
such a moment, upon our own Bible, as it lay open before 
us, reading the lessons on a Christmas-day. 
Nat. Hist. Mag., No. 31. 
