THE FRIEND OF CHILDHOOD. 93 



domesticated. For two or three years a Robin formed one 

 of my family ; seldom did I sit down to a meal without his 

 being on the table. He would enter the house by any 

 door or window, and watch his opportunity to pass into 

 the room as the servant brought in the dishes. At other 

 times he would appear at the parlour window, and, on 

 being admitted, would fly to my knee, or perch upon the 

 book I was reading ; but his favourite post was the lid of 

 a lady's work-box, and among its contents of bobbins and 

 reels of cotton he would find great amusement. Upon this 

 lid he would warble by the half-hour together, in soft 

 musical notes, which, at times, appeared to come from 

 different parts of the room, as though he was a ventrilo- 

 quist. He would feed from the hand, and was not disturbed 

 by the movements of the family.' 



But our sweet familiar Eobin, the friend of our child- 

 hood, the cheerer of our winter hours, has a dark side to his 

 character ; he steals fruit, especially the currant ; yet this 

 is only when the ground is dry and hard, and worms 

 cannot be obtained, so we must not blame him harshly for 

 this. But then he is such a desperately quarrelsome fellow, 

 so pugnacious that it is said two male Eedbreasts never meet 

 without fighting ; even as Mr. Blyth says, he has seen two 

 of these birds fight in his garden until one was killed ; and 

 Mr. Wood has l observed them skirmishing with such relent- 

 less ferocity and unabated ardour, that if he had not inter- 

 fered, fatal consequences must inevitably have ensued to 

 one party.' They have even suffered themselves to be 

 captured, and when put into a cage large enough to contain 

 a dozen more peaceable birds, have renewed the combat as 

 fiercely as ever. One of the fighters was then set at liberty, 

 when each of them, one within the house and one without, 

 poured forth songs of defiance. The next day the other 

 pugnacious bird was released, and in the evening Mr. 

 Wood found the two at it again, tooth and nail, or 

 rather claw and bill. If you want to capture a Eedbreast, 

 you have only to tie a male bird inside a cage, and leave 

 the door open, another will soon enter into the arena for 

 the purpose of having a combat with the prisoner, and may 

 be easily secured. But even a cage is not necessary, for 



