REDBREAST. 91 



thick foliage of the trees and fences, and the rich medley 

 of our migratory songsters, render him then but little 

 heard or seen. Now and then his trim fignre and his 

 ruddy breast appears upon our walks and grass-plots, or 

 flits before us down the wayside fence, where, perched 

 on some projecting spray, bowing, he utters his little 

 note and flirts his tail ; next moment, lost amongst the 

 tangled briars, unseen, he threads some weU-known path 

 to seek his nest and young. His presence too, through- 

 out the summer, in the close vicinity of our homes, is 

 proclaimed at times, after a sultry day, when as late as 

 nine or ten o'clock his song is heard in our gardens, 

 all other notes but those of the nightingale being hushed 

 for the night. There is no portion of the year, however, 

 when for me the robin has so many pleasant associations 

 as in the shooting season. The leaves are falling and 

 the groves are still, the merry group of summer song- 

 sters have left us once again for the sunny south, and 

 winter migrants are fast arriving to supply their place. 

 Then gladly welcomed is his autumn song, which seems 

 to tell us that one friend is left to cheer the " waning 

 year." How strangely it breaks upon the ear at first, 

 as when some well remembered tune calls up old 

 memories. Clear and sharp it sounds in the fresh 

 morning air, whilst still the hoar frost hangs upon the 

 trees, or gUtters on the threads of endless gossamer. 

 The sportsman hears it by the covert side as at mid- 

 day he rests awhile, and seeks refreshment after all his 

 toils ; and later still, as he " homeward plods his weary 

 way," that simple note, in some mysterious manner, 

 awakens recollections of the past, when the same sport 

 was shared with dear and absent friends. Again, in the 

 months of September and October, as the day declines 

 and the evening *^ draws in," how we listen to him in our 

 gardens and shrubberies, now clattering his little man- 

 dibles as he jerks up and down on some projecting branch, 

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