338 ZOOLOGY. 



publication of the ' Babes in the Wood' to the present day. A marked 

 pecuHarity in the manners of this bird is its familiarity. A constant 

 attendant on the works of man, it follows him during his out of door 

 avocations, and enters his dwellings, as if conscious of the general feeling 

 .with which it is beheld, and unsuspicious of the possibility of being 

 entrapped by the closing of the doors or windows. This may be accounted 

 for both bv a disposition to sociality with mankind and cultivation, 

 undoubtedly innate to many tribes of creatures, and particularly to the 

 Ruminantia and Rasores, which this bird in its own circle will partly 

 represent ; and it may also be attracted by the prospect of food, which 

 instinct teaches will be found in its vicinity. When the weather becomes 

 severe many are drawn towards our houses, entering for warmth and to 

 collect food. At first they are wary and watchful, but if unmolested and 

 allowed a free egress, they will take up their abode in a room or a lobby 

 for a month at a time, selecting a roosting-place on the cornice or on some 

 curtain top, warbling their song when the day is clear or the fire burns 

 brightly, and in every way seeming at ease and in confidence with the 

 inmates." 



The robin is distributed over the whole of Europe and the adjoining 

 parts of Asia and Africa, 



The pretty and familiar blue-bird (Sialia wilsoni) of the United States 

 belongs here. 



" The pleasing manners and sociable disposition," says Wilson, " of this 

 'little bird entitle him to particular notice. As one of the first messengers 

 of spring, bringing the charming tidings to our very doors, he bears his 

 own recommendation always along with him, and meets with a hearty 

 "welcome from everybody. 



" Though generally accounted a bird of passage, yet so early as the 

 middle of February (in Pennsylvania), if the weather be open, he usually 

 makes his appearance about the old haunts, the barn, orchard, and fence 

 posts. Storms and deep snows sometimes succeeding, he disappears for a 

 time ; but about the middle of March is again seen accompanied by his 

 mate, visiting the box in the garden, or the hole in the old apple tree, the 

 cradle of some generations of his ancestors. The preliminaries being 

 settled and the spot fixed on, they begin to clean out the old nest and the 

 rubbish of the former year, and to prepare for their future offspring. Soon 

 after this another sociable little pilgrim, the house wren, also arrives from 

 the south ; and finding such a snug berth pre-occupied shows his spite by 

 watching a convenient opportunity, and in the absence of the owner 

 popping in and pulling out sticks, but takes special care to make off as fast 

 as possible. 



" The usual spring and summer song of the blue-bird is a soft, agreeable 

 and oft-repeated warble, uttered with open, quivering wings, and is 

 extremely pleasing. 



" In his motions and general character he has great resemblance to the 

 robin redbreast of Britain, and had he the brown olive of that bird, instead 

 of his own blue, could scarcely be distinguished from him. Like him he is 

 542 



