THE REDBREAST. 107 



" The requiem mass to sing, 

 Softly warbelynge." 



The bird has a number of familiar names, such as Bob 

 Robin, Bobby, Robin Ruck, Ruddock, &c. In Sweden he 

 is called Tomi-Liden; in Norway, Pieter Ronsmad; in 

 Germany, Thomas Gierdet. 



Wordsworth, in his sonnet, " The Redbreast and Butter- 

 fly," says : 



"Art thou the Peter of Norway boors ? 



Their Thomas in Finland, 



And Russia, far inland ? 

 The bird who, by some name or other, 

 All men who know thee call their brother, 

 The darling of children and men?" 



There are many legends connected with this bird. In 

 Scotland and in the north of England, as well as Germany, 

 it is believed that if a robin is killed, one of the cows of 

 the slayer will give bloody milk. M'Gregor (" Folk- Lore 

 of West of Scotland ") says : "There is a popular saying 

 that the robin has a drop of God's blood in its veins ; there- 

 fore to kill or hurt it is a great sin." 



" No wanton boy disturbs its nest, 

 Weasel nor wild cat will her young molest ; 

 All sacred deem the bird of ruddy breast." 



In Bohemia the slayer of a robin will always suffer 

 from shaking paralysis of the hands. In Brittany there is 

 a legend that the robin owes its red breast from having 

 in pity plucked a thorn from our Saviour's crown when 

 hanging on the cross, and as a reward the bird is endowed 

 with perpetual existence. 



The robin is able to hold his own with other birds 

 when, in winter, the scraps of the breakfast-table are 

 thrown upon the lawn for their benefit. A friend writes : 

 "The first to come down is the robin, then the sparrows, 

 then the chaffinches, then the thrushes, and then the 

 blackbirds, and what they do is this. If only one sparrow 

 comes, the robin flies at him and drives him off; if two 

 sparrows come, he is still equal to the occasion ; but if 

 three come he is puzzled, and it is curious to see, what 



