336 The Folk-Lore of Natural History. [Sess. 
honest robin that loves mankind both alive and dead. The 
robin is said in one legend to have been the only bird that 
ventured near the cross, and that the blood of the Saviour 
fell on its breast, which has remained red ever since. But 
there is another bird that a strange but beautiful story con- 
nects with the crucifixion :— 
“ And by all the world forsaken, 
Sees He how with zealous care 
At the ruthless nail of iron 
A little bird is striving there. 
Stained with blood and never tiring, 
With its beak it doth not cease ; 
From the cross ’twould free the Saviour, 
Its Creator’s Son release. 
And the Saviour speaks in mildness,— 
‘ Blest be thou of all the good ! 
Bear, as token of this moment, 
Marks of blood and holy rood !’ 
And that bird is called the crossbill ; 
Covered all with blood so clear, 
In the groves of pine it singeth 
Songs, like legends, strange to hear,’ 
—Longfellow, ‘‘The Legend of the Crossbill” 
(tr. from the German). 
And in connection with things sacred, is it not a strange fancy 
that makes the poet exclaim— 
“The sparrows chirped as if they still were proud 
Their race in holy writ should mentioned be” ? 
THE WREN. 
In Henderson’s ‘ Folk-lore of the Northern Counties’ we 
find it stated that the wren had a sacred character among 
our Celtic ancestors. It has for centuries back been always 
associated with the robin. 
“The robin redbreast and the wren 
Are God Almighty’s cock and hen.” 
John Webster, writing in 1638, says :— 
“Call for the robin redbreast and the wren, 
Since in shady groves they hover, 
And with leaves and flowers do cover 
The friendless bodies of unburied men. 
