94 PUGNACITY OF THE ROBIN. 



the Eobin fights with such fury and entire devotion to hia 

 object, that he will suffer himself to be taken with the 

 hand ; so you have only to tie the decoy bird to a stake 

 or any fixed object. A pair of Eobins have been known to 

 unite in attacking and driving off a party of Sparrows, and 

 as soon as this was accomplished, to fall-to, fighting each 

 other. The following incident affords a striking example 

 of how quarrellers sometimes l come to grief : ' l Two 

 Eobins, friends of the workmen of Messrs. Armstrong's 

 factory, by whom they were petted and fed with scraps 

 from the morning meal, came to a sad end the other day. 

 The men were seated at breakfast; and the Eobins, perched 

 on a ladder, were catering for crumbs as usual. A struggle 

 for the possession of a sweet morsel occurred in the course 

 of the repast ; and the birds, as sworn friends amongst 

 animals of a more intelligent class are apt to do, fell foul 

 of each other. A regular battle ensued on the ladder ; and 

 the birds, heedless of their course, fought vigorously down- 

 ward, until they came to the bottom, where they plunged 

 into a pot of paint, and (oh! direful fate !) were suffocated. 

 The workmen rushed to the rescue, but were too late to 

 save their favourites from destruction.' But, after all that 

 can be said about his quarrelsome disposition, we shall still 

 love the Eobin, and feed him, and cherish him ; when he 

 comes to our door or our window-sill in the dreary winter; 

 when he warbles his cheerful notes in the misty autumn 

 love him for the pleasant memories of early days which 

 he brings back to us ; love him for the lessons which he 

 teaches. What those lessons are, let an old author declare, 

 who says : ' As oft as I have heard the Eobin Eedbreast 

 chaunt as cheerfully in September, the beginning of winter, 

 as in March, the approach of the summer why should 

 we not give as cheerful entertainment to the hoary frosty 

 hairs of our age's winter, as to the primroses of our youth's 

 spring ? I am sent to the ant to learn industry ; to the 

 dove to learn innocency ; to the serpent to learn wisdom ; 

 and why not to this bird to learn patience and cheerful- 

 ness ? ' Following out this train of thought, we may re- 

 member and record the words of good Bishop Hall upon 

 occasion of a Eedbreast coming into his chamber : 



