EECEEATIYE SCIENCE. 



191 



" His nest is near the garden-door, 

 But who hath eyes to find it ? " 



OUE PEIEND THE EOBIN. 



If we held tlie Pytliagorean notion of the 

 transmigration of souls, we might indulge in 

 very pretty speculations as to the antecedents 

 of the spirit of our familiar friend, the Eobin 

 Eedbreast, His dashing carriage, audacious 

 strut, self-possession, and adventurous cou- 

 rage seem so many indications that his soul 

 is human; for is he not a mixture of the 

 hero, the minstrel, and the coxcomb? In 

 the light of tradition he is not a bird, but a 

 person, and one almost elevated into the 

 ranks of a petty deity. It is hard to say 

 whether the moral story of his life, as we 

 make acquaintance with it by experience, or 

 the mysterious influence of traditionary pres- 

 tige, is to be regarded as the source of that 

 homage we pay to his name and nature, by 

 ■which he becomes of right the most sacred 



Vol.. I.— No. 6. 



of our lares. Our hearts leap out to the 

 robin as he leaps in at the garden-door ; and 

 if we cannot in the body, at least in the 

 spirit we shake hands with him as the dearest 

 friend of our childhood, and one whom we 

 are prepared to cherish and defend at all 

 hazards. The robin and the sparrow vie 

 with each other in courting the friendship of 

 man. But the robin not only courts, but 

 compels — not only sues, but demands — and 

 so he gains a march on the sparrow, and will 

 be spared by the prosiest blockhead, who 

 would shoot and poison every other bird 

 within his reach. The affection for the robin 

 is shared by all of us alike— it may differ in 

 degree, but not in kind ; and even the heart- 

 less bird-catcher handles him with more 

 tenderness than any other bird, and some- 



