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food is no longer found in abundance ; but 

 the Redbreast continues with us the whole 

 year ; and endeavours to support himself in 

 the dead of winter by entering those places 

 from which the inclemency of the season is 

 artificially expelled, and where insects, 

 themselves attracted by a similar cause, are 

 the most numerous. 



Redbreasts are never seen in flocks, but 

 always singly ; and when all other birds as- 

 sociate together, they still retain their soli- 

 tary habits. As soon as the young birds 

 have attained their full plumage, they pre- 

 pare for their departure from woods and 

 thickets ; but in thus changing their situa- 

 tion, they do not gather in flocks, but per- 

 form their journey singly, one after another ; 

 which, as Bewick has observed, is a singular 

 circumstance in the history of this bird. It 

 is worthy of note, also, that social as it is 

 with the human race, it lives in a state of 

 continued hostility with its own tribe, and 

 has acquired a character for petulance and 

 pugnacity which it well deserves. But 

 where such universal favour is shown, there 

 must surely be some cause for it ; and 

 whether its domestic qualities entitle it to 

 our regard, or our kindlier sympathies have 

 been first awakened by a legendary tale of 

 the nursery, is of little importance, so long 

 as either the one or the other serves to im- 

 plant in the youthful breast a single humane 

 or generous sentiment. " A favourite by 

 commiseration, the Redbreast seeks an asy- 

 lum with us ; by supplication and importu- 

 nity it becomes a partaker of our bounty in 

 a season of severity and want ; and its 

 seeming humbleness and necessities obtain 

 our pity ; but it slights and forgets our 



| kindnesses the moment it can provide for 

 itself, and is away to its woods and its shades. 

 Yet it has some little coaxing ways, and 

 such fearless confidence, that it wins our 

 regard ; and its late autumnal song, in 

 evening's dusky hour, as a monologue, is 

 pleasing, and redeems much of its cha- 

 racter. 



To one of the poet Wordsworth's Sonnets, 

 addressed to a " Wild Redbreast " which had 

 pecked at his lip in the woods of Rydal, the 

 author has appended the following charac- 

 teristic note : " The scene of the incident 

 having been a wild wood, it maybe doubted, 

 as a point of natural history, whether the 

 bird was aware that his attentions were 

 bestowed upon a human, or even a living, 

 creature. But a Redbreast will perch upon 

 the foot of a gardener at work, and alight 

 on the handle of a spade when his hand was 

 half upon it this I have seen. And under 

 my own roof I have witnessed affecting in- 

 stances of the creature's friendly visits to 

 the chambers of sick persons, as described 

 in the verses to the Redbreast, vol. i. p. 2.53. 

 One of these welcome intruders used fre- 

 quently to roost upon a nail in the wall, 

 from which a picture had hung, and was 

 ready, as morning came, to pipe his song in 

 the hearing of the invalid, who had long 

 been confined to her room. These attach- 

 ments to a particular person, when marked 

 and continued, used to be reckoned omi- 



! nous ; but the superstition is passing away." 



REDBREAST, BLUE. (fHa?ut THY*/.) 

 This bird, which is the MutaciUa Sinlis 

 of Linn.-Bus, is migratory, and makes its 

 appearance in Carolina and Virginia very 

 early in the spring, in flocks. It is about 

 six inches long ; beak dusky : the whole 

 of the upper parts of its plumage are of 

 a fine blue colour ; the throat, fore part of 

 the neck, breast, and sides, rufous ; the 

 belly and under tail-coverts white. The 

 female is less brilliant in colour, and has 

 the upper parts varied with brown. It feeds 

 on insects ; to procure which it frequents 

 fields of maize and marshy places. It has 

 only a slight plaintive note ; and its nest 

 is placed in the hole of a tree or wall. 



RED DEER. [See DKER.] 



RED-POLE, or RED-HEADED WAR- 

 BLER. (Sylvicolrt pctechia, or ustiva.) This 

 bird inhabits Pennsylvania, where it makes 

 its first appearance in March, and retires in 

 the autumn. It has a black, slender, sharp- 

 pointed bill ; the top of the head is red ; the 

 upper parts of the body, from the head to 

 the tail, olive green ; the wings and tail 

 dusky, with yellow edges : the under parts 

 of the plumage are bright yellow, sprinkled 

 on the breast and belly with red : the legs 

 dusky. It frequents bushy places, and is a 

 solitary species. 



REDSHANK. (Totanus calidris.) This 

 is an aquatic bird, about the size of the 

 common Plover : the back is of a grayish or 

 greenish brown colour, spotted with black ; 

 the neck is gray ; the throat is variegated 

 with black and white, with a few loose 

 streaks of black ; and the wing-feathers are 

 a mixture of black, brown, and white. The 

 bill is long, slender, and shaped like that of 

 a woodcock, reddish at the base, and blacker 

 lower down, and the legs are of a bright red. 

 This bird breeds in fens and marshes, and is 

 generally observed singly, or at most in 

 pairs. When disturbed, it flies round its 

 nest, making a noise like the Lapwing. It 

 lays four eggs, of a whitish colour tinged 

 with olive, and marked with irregular spots 

 of black. 



REED-BUNTING. (Emberiza schceni- 

 clus.) [See BUNTING.] 



REGENT BIRD. (Sericulm chrysoce- 

 phalus.) A very beautiful bird belonging 

 to the Mdiphagidte or Honey-eaters, found 

 in the eastern portion of Australia, figured 

 and described by Mr. Gould, in his cele- 

 brated work as one of the finest birds of the 

 Australian Fauna, " which, when adorned 

 in its gorgeous livery of golden yellow and 

 deep velvety black, exhibits an extreme 

 shyness of disposition, as if conscious that 

 its beauty, rendering it a conspicuous object, 

 might lead to its destruction." The plu- 

 mage of the male bird is exceedingly rich 

 and brilliant, but is not acquired until the 

 second or third year. It is thus described : 

 Head and back of the neck, running in a 

 rounded point towards the breast, rich bright 

 gamboge yellow tinged with orange, par- 

 ticularly on the centre of the forehead ; the 

 remainder of the plumage, with the excep- 



