54 THE BIEDS OF OXFORDSHIRE. 



immunity from human persecution, were not the depredations 



of the cat remembered. Even the bat-fowKng- boys, into 



whose nets it not infrequently falls, always restore it to 



liberty — perhaps from a superstitious fear of bad luck, perhaps 



from affection — but it is all the same to the Robin. A very 



wet cold summer following a hard winter prolonged into 



spring, such as was experienced in 1879, seems to have 



a disastrous effect also upon the Robin^s numbers. In that 



year I made a note in August that I had not seen a nest that 



season, and not a dozen birds all the year. Like most of our 



warblers the Robin likes a little ripe fruit to help him through 



his moult in late summer, and may often be caught in the act 



of bolting red currants whole. 



Singing constantly all through the year (some early hatched 



individuals, through their moult, striking up even in the 



silent month of August), its song is very sweet but has a 



certain sadness, and, drowned among the swelling chorus of 



spring and early summer, it is oftenest heard and best 



appreciated in severe weather in the early part of the year, 



when snow lies deep on the ground, but cannot silence the 



Robin ; or in those calm quiet days we sometimes get when 



autumn first begins to make its presence felt, and the little 



gentle lay seems so thoroughly in harmony with the fading 



year. It was such a day that Keble had in his mind : — 



' The morning mist is clear'd away, 



Yet still the face of heaven is grey, 



Nor yet th' autumnal breeze has stirr'd the grove ; 



Faded yet full, a paler green 



Skirts soberly the tranquil scene, 



The red-breast warbles round this leafy cove.' Q V 



J ' 



THE NIGHTINGALE. 



Daultas luscinia. 

 The Nightingale is a regular summer visitor, arriving from 

 the beginning of April onwards, and has been heard singing 

 as early as the 7th of that month by the Rev. T. W. Falcon. 



