28 - REDBREAST. 
the new one. Here what remained to be done to the nest was 
completed; the under part of the shoe was filled up with 
oak leaves, the eggs were deposited in the nest, and in due 
time hatched, the windows of the room being always left a 
little open for the entrance and egress of the birds. My 
friend informed me that it was pleasing to see the great 
confidence the Robins placed in him. Sometimes, in the 
morning, the old birds would settle on the top of his glass, 
nor did they seem the least alarmed at his presence.’ 
A loft is frequently built in, and in one instance, the nest 
having been obliged to be removed, for an alteration in the 
wall, the hen bird did not forsake it, though placed elsewhere, 
even while dislodged mortar and stones fell dangerously near 
her. A nest was placed on a shelf in a pantry, among some 
four-sided bottles, so that it was made of a square shape. 
When the housekeeper had to go in for any article, the bird, 
instead of flying out of the window, as might have been 
expected, alighted on the floor till she had gone, when it 
immediately returned to its nest. The eggs were eventually 
forsaken, and a new nest, the work probably of the same 
bird, was made in the room over it, which happened to be 
a workshop for a museum. At first its absence was desired 
more than its company, and it was endeavoured to be scared 
by the sight of some fierce-looking stuffed animals, but it 
seemed to be aware that the lion was dead, and eventually 
fixed its abode on the head of a shark, enshrouded by the 
tail of an alligator. Two ladies at Larne, seemg a Robin 
anxious to build, placed a box in the porch of the house for 
its accommodation, which it speedily occupied. Another pair 
resorted for nidification to a hole left by a knot in one of the 
timbers of a ship under repair, and even the deafening sound 
of the driving of the trenails close to it did not affect the 
quiet tenacity with which it kept its place. One, taken from 
its nest, stayed in the hand of the person who found it, and 
on his putting it back again, remained till the eggs were 
hatched the following day. 
My. Jesse relates the following:—‘A gentleman had directed 
a waggon to be packed, intending to send it to Worthing, 
where he himself was going. For some reason his journey 
was delayed, and he therefore directed that the waggon should 
be placed in a shed in the yard, packed as it was, till it 
should be convenient for him to send it off. While it was 
in the shed, a pair of Robins built their nest among some 
