118 WOODVILLE : ITS PETS AND ITS PURSUITS. 



his hand, and calling ' Robbie ! ' the bird appeared to re- 

 cognise the name it had been accustomed to, perched 

 upon his ringer, and was instantly secured. The bird is 

 now, May 1823, in full plumage and singing delightfully; 

 he ranges at liberty through the room, for though he has 

 a large, light, and airy cage, the door of which stands 

 open, he seldom enters it. In the same room is a chaf- 

 finch, still more tame than the redbreast ; also a titmouse 

 and a mule bird ; but the moment they are out of their 

 cages, the redbreast pursues, attacks, and drives them 

 from place to place, so that he remains cock of the room. 

 If his master takes a seed of hemp, and calls ' Robbie,' he 

 instantly flies at it, picks it from between the finger and 

 thumb, darts off, and this so rapidly that one cannot 

 detect how he extracts the seed He is very in- 

 quisitive, and it is amusing to observe him when anything 

 is brought into the apartment, such as books, paper, &c. 

 At first he advances with great caution ; but finding the 

 object motionless, he ventures nearer, hops round it, but 

 never appears content till he has got upon it, and never 

 quits it, unless disturbed, until he has examined it with 

 the eye of a curious inquirer. One morning, a roll of 

 paper, more than two feet long, being laid on the table, 

 Bobbie instantly saw it was a new object, flew to it, 

 hopped round and round it several times, and at last, 

 finding it impossible to satisfy himself without a narrower 



