ROBIN MORALITIES. 95 



Pretty bird, how cheerfully dost thou sit and sing, and yet 

 knowest not where thou art, nor where thou shalt make thy next 

 meal ; and, at night, must shroud thyself in a bush for lodging ! 

 What a shame is it for me, that see before me so liberal provisions 

 of my God, and find myself sit warm under my own roof, yet am 

 ready to droop under a distrustful and unthankful dullness ! Had I 

 so little certainty of my harbour and purveyance, how heartless 

 should I be, how careful, how little list should I have to make 

 music to thee or myself ! Surely thou comest not hither without a 

 Providence. God sent thee not so much to delight as to shame me ; 

 who, under more apparent means, am less cheerful and confident : 

 reason and faith have not done so much in me, as in thee mere 

 instinct of nature ; want of foresight makes thee more merry, if not 

 more happy here, than the foresight of better things maketh me. 



God, thy Providence is not impaired by those powers Thou 

 hast given me above these brute things : let not my greater helps 

 hinder me from an holy security, and comfortable reliance upon 

 thee. 



With one prayer more we must conclude, although 

 leaving unnoticed many interesting incidents and circum- 

 stances illustrating traits of character in this favourite bird, 

 and very many beautiful poems which have been written 

 in honour of the household bird with the red stomacher 

 that we all love so dearly, that, like Ebenezer Elliot, we 

 shall desire to have it with us in the mansions of eternal 

 joy. This poet, we are told, on his death-bed, dictated 

 these lines to his daughter : 



Thy notes, sweet Kobin, soft as dew, 



Heard soon or late, are dear to me ; 

 To music I would bid adieu, 



But not to thee. 

 When from my eyes this lifeful throng 



Has passed away, no more to be, 

 Then Autumn's primrose, Robin's song, 

 Return to me. 



THE REDSTART (Ruticilla or Sylvia plicenicurus). We 

 have three Redstarts in England, and this is the most com- 

 mon species ; they are generally associated with the War- 

 blers, but Macgillivray has placed them as a genus by 

 themselves, under the name Ruticilla. The species of 

 which we have first to speak is that above named ; it is 

 a beautiful and lively bird, which remains with us during 



