52 THE REDBREAST. 



At morn, at chilly eve, when the March sun 



Sinks with a wintry tinge, and Hesper sheds 



A frosty light, he ceases not his strain ; 



And when staid Autumn walks with rustling tread 



He mourns the falling leaf. 



Grahame, Birds of Scotland. 



The notes have a very pleasing effect as they fall upon the 



ear from the topmost twig of some tall bush or tree in an 



autumn evening, when the little songster 



. . Pours his sweetest strains 

 To charm the lingering day. 



Tannahill. 



The fondness of the Robin for an elevated perch when 

 singing did not escape the notice of our national poet, who, 

 m-ourning over the departure of summer, says — 



Nae mair the flower in field or meadow springs : 

 Nae mair the grove wi' airy concert rings. 

 Except perhaps the Robin's whistling glee. 

 Proud o' the height o' some bit half-lang tree ; ^ 



and the following fragment of an ancient song, written about 

 1575, shows that the autumnal strains of this bird had 

 even then attracted attention — 



Robyn Readbrest with his noates, 



Singing aloft in the quere, 

 Warneth to get you frese coates, 



For winter then draweth nere. 



It was at one time a popular belief in the county that if 

 the Eobin were heard singing much, it was a sign of rain ; 

 and, alluding to this, Captain Bell, Linthill, near Eye- 

 mouth, in his MS. Diary of the Weather for 1802, records, 

 on April 4th of that year : — " Robin Redbreast singing a 

 good deal to-day — a sign of rain." Mr. Hardy, writing on 

 the 23rd of October 1834, says : — " Rainy day. In the midst 

 of the rain the Redbreast is singing as merrily as if it were 

 summer-tide;" and, quoting from "Warwick," he adds: — 'I 

 am sent to the ant to learn industry, to the dove to learn 



^ Burns : " The Brigs o' Ayr." 



