Some Bird Myths. 167 



For those who thus remain there is in the popular 

 mind an idea of sacredness which protects them, not 

 only from the rustic fowling-piece, but mostly even 

 from the stone that startles the house-sparrow into 

 voluble profanity. 



The reason for this protection and encouragement 

 is obvious. Old myths and half-forgotten legends are 

 indeed quoted to account for it ; but these are rather 

 to be considered as a result than as a cause. It seems 

 much more probable that the robin's claim to indul- 

 gence lies rather in the attraction of its pretty and 

 confiding ways. Its 'sprightly bearing, its red breast, 

 its bright black eye, its confident air, and the knowing 

 turn of its head win for it more favour than any ancient 

 myth or mouldering tradition. 



Nor is it likely that any belief, conscious or other- 

 wise, in the story of the ' Babes in the Wood,' in- 

 fluences the English peasant in his dealings with the 

 robin. That famous ballad appeared, according to 

 Percy, in the first year of the seventeenth century ; 

 but a similar idea is found in the ' Cornucopia,' a 

 work of some years earlier, where it is stated as a 

 well-known fact that the redbreast was in the habit of 

 covering with moss the bodies of the dead. Again, 

 Webster writes, in 1638 : 



' 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. 



