SOME BIRD LORE 63 



was overwhelmed at the sight of the awful tragedy 

 and fluttered round, trying its best to assist and 

 cheer — striving with beak and claws to draw away 

 the thorns running so deep into the holy brow, till 

 in its efforts the robin's own soft breast was torn and 

 bleeding, and Our Lord said to him: " Because you 

 have tried to soothe My anguish, henceforth you 

 shall bear the marks of My blood upon your breast, 

 and for evermore you shall be loved and welcomed 

 near the dwellings of men." 



Another legend popularly believed of the robin 

 in mediaeval times is that he often flies to Hades, 

 bringing in his beak drops of water to assuage 

 the thirst of the poor souls there, and in this act 

 of charity his breast is scorched by the flames. 



Whittier writes of this legend: 



" He brings cool dew in his little bill, 

 And lets it fall on the souls of sin; 

 You can see the mark on his red breast still, 

 Of fires that scorch as he drops it in." 



Another pretty belief about the robin tells us 

 that he w^ill cover up a dead body, as he is supposed 

 to have done for the " Babes in the Wood." 



" Covering with moss the dead's unclosed eye, 

 The little redbreast teacheth charity." 



St. Cuthbert and the Birds. 



St. Cuthbert, in olden days, was one of the most 

 famous and best-loved saints in all the North of 

 England. He was a monk, who brought Christ- 

 ianity to the Fame Isles, dying in the year 687, 

 The islands and the coast are famous as the haunt 



