NIGHTINGALE. 47 



strangest being that if a Robin is killed one of the cows belong- 

 ing to the person guilty of the offence will give bloody milk. 

 At Staveley, near Knaresborough, a saying goes that " when 

 a Robin sings on the ridge of a roof it foretells fine weather." 

 This idea exists also in the East Riding, with the additional 

 notion that if the bird chirps mournfully the weather will 

 be wet. In Cleveland it is considered to be unlucky to take 

 the eggs from a Robin's nest, a distich in common use running, 

 " Rob a Robin, go a sobbing " ; and in the East Riding 

 the following couplet is called out against nest-robbers : 

 " Robin takker, Robin takker, Sin, Sin, Sin ! " At Skelman- 

 thorpe the idea was formerly prevalent that young Robins, 

 as soon as they are able to fly, will peck their parents to death. 

 In some parts of mid- Yorkshire it was supposed that the 

 Robin loses his red breast when he retires for the summer, 

 and regains it before returning to his winter quarters. In 

 the North Riding it is said that to cast your eye upon the 

 first Robin through glass, after the winter quarter has set 

 in, is unlucky. 



Local names : Robin ; Robin Redbreast (general), Rud- 

 dock in North and mid- Yorkshire, and Ploughman's Bird 

 (Lofthouse, near Wakefield) are the only vernacular appella- 

 tions known. 



NIGHTINGALE. 



Philomela luscinia (/.) 



Summer visitor, local in its distribution, and entirely absent from 

 the western side of the county. 



The earliest allusion to this species, as a Yorkshire bird, 

 with which I am acquainted is the one made by Pennant in 



