. ROBIN. 53 
* : 
case of the Blackbird. Their eggs, too, vary generally in size, 
even inthe same nest. Out of the contents of two nests I had 
brought to me a year or two since, no two seemed to agree 
exactly in dimensions.—fig. 12, plate IT. 
45. GOLDEN ORIOLE—(Oriolus galbula). 
Only an unaccustomed summer visitor. 
a 
IV. SYLVIADA. 
46. ALPINE ACCENTOR—(Accentor Alpinus). 
Met with two or three times in Britain. 
47. HEDGE-SPARROW—(A4roccent modularis). 
Hedge-warbler, Shuffle-wing, Dunnock, Hempie.—I cannot 
call it Hedge-Accentor, with all my respect for Mr. Yarrell. It 
was Hedge-Sparrow in my childhood and youth, and Hedge- 
sparrow to me it will be called to the end of the chapter. I 
could no more wantonly kill a Hedge-Sparrow, in my sparrow- 
killing days, than a Robin; and now, when I hear his low, sweet 
pipe, and see his wings quivered as he hops on the ground or 
from spray to spray not knowing I am noticing him, h® seems as 
dear to me as ever. The mossy nest, with its intermixture of fine 
roots and hairs, may be found weeks before leaves are thought of, 
on the bank-side or low in the hedge, and little concealed ; and 
the four or five beautiful blue eggs in it become familiar to every 
nest-seeker among his very earliest acquisitions.— 2%. 13, plate IT. 
48, ROBIN—(Lrythaca rubecula). 
Redbreast, Robin Redbreast, Ruddock, Robinet, Bob-robin. 
I remember throwing a stone at a Robin when a very little boy, 
and to my consternation and utter grief, no less than to my sur 
prise, killing it. I “felt bad” about it—as our American friends 
say—and thought I was as wicked as the Sparrow of bow-and- 
s. 
