REDBREAST, or . perhaps the favourite among
English birds because of its pleasing colour, its sagacity and
fearlessness of man, and its cheerful song, even in winter. In July and August the hedgerows of the southern counties of England are beset with redbreasts, not in flocks, but each individual keeping its own distance from the next—all, however, on their way to cross the Channel. On the European continent the migration is still more marked, and the redbreast on its autumnal and vernal passages is the object of bird-catchers, since its value as a delicacy has long been recognized. Even those redbreasts which stay in Britain during the winter are subject to a migratory movement. The first sharp frost makes them change their habitation, and a heavy fall of of snow drives them towards the homesteads for food. The redbreast exhibits a curious uncertainty of temperament in regard to its nesting habits. At times it will place the utmost confidence in man, and at times show the greatest jealousy. The nest is usually built of moss and dead leaves, with a moderate lining of hair. In this are laid from five to seven white eggs, sprinkled or blotched with light red.
Besides the British Islands, the redbreast (Motacilla rubecula
of Linnaeus and the Erithacus rubecula of modern authors) is
generally dispersed over the continent of Europe, and is in
winter found in the oases of the Sahara. Its eastern limits
are not well determined. In northern Persia it is replaced by
a nearly allied form, Erithacus hyrcanus, distinguishable by its
more ruddy hues, while in northern China and Japan another
species, E. akahige, is found of which the sexes differ somewhat
in plumage—the cock having a blackish band below his red
breast and greyish-black flanks, while the hen closely resembles
the familiar British species—but both cock and hen have the
tail of chestnut-red. The genus Erithacus, as well as that
containing the other birds to which the name "robin" has been
applied, with the doubtful exception of Petroeca, belong to the
sub-family Turdinae of the thrushes (q.v.).