52 SKETCHES OF BIRD LIFE. 



writing of that ballad ?" Mr. Knight says : " There 

 is no doubt that it was an old popular belief, and 

 the notion has been found in an earlier book of 

 natural history." 



John Webster, writing in 1638, says : 



" Call for the Robin Redbreast and the Wren, 

 Since o'er shady groves they hover, 

 And with leaves and flowers do cover 

 The friendless bodies of unburied men." 



I zaak Walton, too, in his Compleat Angler, 1653, 

 speaks of " the honest robin that loves mankind 

 both alive and dead." Possibly Shakespeare intended 

 only to refer to the ancient and beautiful custom of 

 strewing the grave with flowers. 



The Robin and the Wren have for centuries, 

 from some unexplained cause, been always associated 

 together, as in the lines above quoted. In many 

 parts of England the country people regard them as 

 male and female of one species, and support their 

 assertion with an old couplet 



"The Robin Redbreast and the Wren 

 Are God Almighty's cock and hen." 



This fanciful association is probably only the result 

 of imperfect observation of the structure and habits 



