228 PERSONALITY IN BIRDS 



unless, indeed, the Nightingale itself should lose that 

 reverence they now yield as a natural tribute to what 

 is more noted than known. 



Be that as it may, those who have been at pains 

 to seek closer acquaintanceship with the Robin know 

 how personal, on the human side at any rate, the 

 appeal becomes. There is a straightforwardness of 

 fellowship in him which no other wild bird evinces 

 in the same degree. He is bold to the point of 

 temerity, and with his liking for any object of human 

 handicraft, will at once enter the trap which a 

 sparrow will regard with contempt. The proud 

 bearing of the Thrush tribe finds in him an added 

 touch of haughtiness as, drawn up to his full height, 

 he casts a challenging look over his shoulder at the 

 object of his curiosity or suspicion. His alarm- 

 note is less a sound of fear than of protest. His 

 remonstrance against invasion of his domestic 

 privacy is poignant, as of rage mixed with grief. He 

 is solitary, as needs must be one so absolute in his 

 ways ; but he will enter any assemblage of winter 

 birds in his own grand manner, and having helped 

 himself to the good things going, take his departure 

 alone as he came. When in company with other 

 birds he acts alone. He may take flight while they 

 remain undisturbed ; but if twenty of them show 

 fear, he may still remain. He is a manly bird in 

 every one of his six inches, fights a real fight if 

 need be, and sings a song that is never twice the 

 same. 



And therein Nature crosses him, as she crosses so 

 many other living beings, making them all of a 

 piece up to a certain point, then concluding her 



