The Redbreast. 211 



showing in all its tricks and ways that it has abso- 

 lutely no fear of man. This fearlessness is, no 

 doubt, to a certain extent, the result of its immunity 

 from persecution, as for centuries legend and tradi- 

 tion have so favoured it that the schoolboy is chary 

 of even touching its nest, as he has a vague notion 

 that something uncanny will happen if he in any 

 way injures a robin. The origin of this super- 

 stitious feeling in ifcs favour is lost in the mist 

 of antiquity, but its beauty and its winning 

 ways are in themselves sufficient to account for 

 the love bestowed on it. Beauty the redbreast 

 certainly possesses, which even the grime and dirt 

 of London cannot destroy, as its bright full eye and 

 fearless carriage have a charm of their own quite 

 apart from its plumage. Of its excessive tameness 

 and of its winning homely ways numberless tales 

 have been told, to which most people could add from 

 their own experience, as it has been well said that 

 redbreasts in the winter become t{ almost domesti- 

 cated/ 1 There is a very common belief that in the 

 spring these birds leave the neighbourhood of 

 houses and retire into the woods to breed. This is 

 certainly not true of the main body, and we agree 

 with Rennie that "a great number do not go 

 further from their winter haunts than the nearest 

 hedgerow." Many, indeed, do not go so far, but 

 build in gardens, often choosing such places as 

 summer-houses and tool-sheds, or holes in walls, 

 especially if covered with ivy, for their nests, 

 and this applies especially to the birds that make 

 v 2 



