172 BRITISH BIRDS 



THE RING OUZEL. See under Thrushes. 



THE ROBIN, or ROBIN-REDBREAST. 



This bird is such a familiar object in our midst, that it 

 seems almost superfluous to take up a portion of a some- 

 what limited space in order to describe it : still, as in one 

 case, at all events, that has come under the immediate 

 notice of the writer, it was mistaken for a Goldfinch, or 

 rather the latter bird was mis-called and believed to be a 

 Robin, it may be as well to treat it like the other birds 

 that occupy a place in these pages. 



It is a native bird, of course, and is found in consid- 

 erable numbers all over the British Isles, even in smoky 

 suburbs, where every branch of every tree that struggles 

 in them for existence is coated with a layer of soot, which 

 falls so thickly on the stunted grass as positively to 

 disguise its colour. It is essentially a friend of man, and 

 yet no bird is shyer or more solitary during the breeding 

 season. 



The Robin is not a large bird, for it measures some 

 5 inches in length only, 2\ inches of which belong to 

 the tail. The general colour is greenish-olive, but the 

 forehead, cheeks, throat and breast are reddish-orange. The 

 bill and legs and feet are horn-brown, and the eye, which 

 is very full and bright, is dark brown approaching to black. 



The female is slightly smaller than her mate, is of a 

 greyer colour on the back, and has a good deal less orange 

 on her head and face. 



The young are very unlike their parents, being dingy 

 olive-grey in colour and spotted on the breast and wings 

 with lighter markings of a yellowish tinge, so that they 

 are often mistaken for young Thrushes by people who are 

 not very conversant with birds; at the first moult, however, 

 they assume the adult plumage, but have less red than a 

 male of the second year, and the little round yellowish 

 spots on the wing-coverts are not so conspicuous. 



When wild the Robin is found all over Europe, except 

 perhaps in the extreme north, With us, in Britain, he 



