REDBREAST. 93 



the young kill the old, others that the old, and especially 

 the hen birds, are migratory in autumn, whilst their 

 natural pugnacity, the cat, and cold winters, have been 

 each in turn alleged as the chief cause. That they do 

 fight, and that to the death, is a well known fact, and 

 many probably from their very tameness fall victims to 

 the cat ; but I beheve the robin to be as capable of 

 braving our winters as any of our resident birds, and 

 from its very boldness in seeking the protection of man 

 is less likely than many to suffer privation. There is 

 one other point, too, which has often struck me, that 

 whatever the cause that tliins their numbers, a dead 

 robin is after all about as rarely seen as Mr. Weller's 

 dead donkey or defunct post-boy; and yet, though 

 puss from her very love of destroying life does ^'^kill 

 cock robin," so far as my experience goes she never eats 

 him, he being one of those birds whose peculiar odour or 

 flavour seems particularly obnoxious to the feline race. 

 With reference, however, to the supposed migratory 

 habits of the redbreast, I quote the following passage 

 from a most interesting paper, by Mr. Edward Blyth, 

 in the first volume of the "Field Naturalist" for 

 1833 (p. 466) ; the facts stated having been communi- 

 cated to him at the time by a friend, a good observer of 

 nature, who had just come from Aberdeen on board 

 a trading smack : — " On the 16th of September, on 

 the voyage from London, northward, when off the 

 coast of Yorkshire, and about ten or twelve miles from 

 Redcliff, several small birds ahghted on the vessel." 

 After enumerating tree pipits, willow-wrens, whinchats, 

 and a female redstart, he adds, " On the following day 

 (Sept. 17th), other species made their appearance ; 

 several wheatears, robins, and one male stonechat. All 

 these birds migrate by night ; and they all left the vessel 

 on the first night after their appearance excepting two 

 robins, which remained for some time, being fed by the 



