Tlie Robin, or Redbreast. 227 



Well rewarded if I spy 

 Pleasure in thy glancing eye ; 

 And see thee, when thou'st eat thy fill, 

 Plume thy breast, and wipe thy bill." 



LANGHORNE. 



In the winter season, impelled by the potent stimulus 

 of hunger, the Redbreast frequents our barns, gardens, 

 and houses, and often alights, on a sudden, on the rustic 

 floor ; where, with his broad eye incessantly open, and 

 looking askew upon the company, he picks up eagerly 

 the crumbs of bread that fall from the table, and then 

 flies off to the neighbouring bush, where, by his war- 

 bling strains, he expresses his gratitude for the liberty 

 he has been allowed. He is found in most parts of 

 Europe, but nowhere so commonly as in Great Britain. 

 His bill is dusky ; his forehead, chin, throat, and breast 

 are of a deep orange-colour, inclining to vermilion ; the 

 back of his head, neck, back, and tail are of a pale olive- 

 brown colour ; the wings are somewhat darker, the edges 

 inclining to yellow; the legs and feet are the colour of 

 the bill. The female generally builds her nest in the 

 crevice of some mossy bank, near places which human 

 beings frequent, or in some part of a human dwelling. 

 Robins have been known to build in a sawpit where 

 men worked every day, and in various other equally 

 extraordinary places. When the Crystal Palace at 

 Sydenham was being fitted up, several Robins built their 

 nests in holes of the large roots used to raise the flower 

 beds within the building. So little fear did they exhibit 

 that their bright eyes might be seen glancing from holes 

 close to which men were passing every moment. The 

 elegant poet of The Seasons gives us a very exact and 

 animated description of this bird in the following lines : 



Half afraid, he first 



Against the window beats : then, brisk alights 

 On the warm hearth ; then, hoppiog on the floor, 

 Eyes all the smiling family askance, 

 And pecks, and starts, and wonders where he is, 

 Till, more familiar grown, the table-crumbs 

 Attract his slender feet." 



An old Latin proverb tells us that two Robin Red- 



