A railway carriage had been left for some weeks out of use in the station
at Giessen, Hesse Darmstadt, in the month of May, 1852, and when the
superintendent came to examine the carriage he found that a black
redstart had built her nest upon the collision spring; he very humanely
retained the carriage in its shed until its use was imperatively
demanded, and at last attached it to the train which ran to
Frankfort-on-the-Maine, a distance of nearly forty miles. It remained at
Frankfort for thirty-six hours, and was then brought back to Giessen, and
after one or two short journeys came back again to rest at Giessen, after
a period of four days. The young birds were by this time partly fledged,
and finding that the parent bird had not deserted her offspring, the
superintendent carefully removed the nest to a place of safety, whither
the parent soon followed. The young were, in process of time, full
fledged and left the nest to shift for themselves. It is evident that
one at least of the parent birds must have accompanied the nest in all
its journeys, for, putting aside the difficulty which must have been
experienced by the parents in watching for every carriage that arrived at
Giessen, the nestlings would have perished from hunger during their stay
at Frankfort, for everyone who has reared young birds is perfectly aware
that they need food every two hours. Moreover, the guard of the train
repeatedly saw a red-tailed bird flying about that part of the carriage
on which the nest was placed.