52 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



various parts of Europe, and that the bird is not 

 worthy of specific rank. 



One other bird of the homestead, the most typical 

 of all, remains. 



It may fairly be said that of all birds none is so 

 well known as the Robin. Go where one will in 

 England, rest but a little while wherever trees 

 cluster about the village homestea4s, peer into 

 stackyard, orchard or garden nook where the pea- 

 sticks are piled against the ivy-covered wall, and, 

 sooner or later, the familiar Redbreast will be seen, 

 as it flits to some prominent perch, often drawing 

 nearer to the intruder, as though seeking com- 

 panionship. 



But it is not in mere point of numbers, though 

 few birds are more generously distributed, that the 

 Robin stands so near to the human race. It is his 

 sheer friendliness; his obvious desire to be taken 

 as part of the home-life ; to share with the children 

 and the chickens something of man's affection and 

 solicitude, that his name has come to be a house- 

 hold word. Who can wonder, therefore, that Robin 

 Redbreast has acquired some familiar domestic 

 name in nearlv every country in Europe, and that 

 in lands colonized by Englishmen where he may 

 not exist, his title should be bestowed upon any 

 kindly-disposed bird with a red breast which may 

 come to hand, as a token of loving remembrance ? 



Yet although its appearance and its habits are so 

 well known, the life-history of the Robin presents 

 problems to the naturalist which are by no means 

 easy of solution. It has been seen that its numbers 



