268 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



their winter robe of purest white." It is needless to 

 say that the ubiquitous Robin (Erithacus rubecula) is 

 as familiar with us as elsewhere, and may often be 

 seen studying horticulture under the very eye of the 

 practical gardener, when he is engaged turning the 

 soil in early spring. To snatch a hasty morsel within 

 a yard or two of the spade and disappear with it, is 

 not at all an uncommon feat in the practice of the 

 robin. Every school boy knows where to look for the 

 nest of this bird, and can readily identify its eggs 

 when he finds them ; but sometimes they puzzle more 

 finished Oologists. In one or two localities in the 

 parish, perfectly white eggs of the robin have been 

 found repeatedly season after season. The song of the 

 robin is as well known as the personal appearance of 

 the bird, and any allusion to it might be deemed 

 superfluous ; but we have seen a few lines on the 

 subject which we are tempted to quote. "This 

 season (1861) I have had an opportunity of making a 

 curious and unlocked for addition to my Ornitho- 

 logical experience. Every fine day since the latter 

 end of September, I have heard a very unusual note 

 of a small bird, always on or near the same tree, and 

 for a long time I was under the impression that the 

 often quoted 'occasional and rare visitor' was among 

 us at last ; but after many attempts to get a sight of 

 the bird and many failures, I succeeded last Thursday 

 in bringing him within the focus of a first-rate Voigt- 

 Icender, when the prospect of addressing ' Mr. Editor, 

 of the West Sussex Gazette,' on the discovery of a 

 species new to this locality, at once resolved itself into 

 a blank ! The highly gifted and punctual assistant in 

 the dairy and poultry department here, possesses the 

 rare faculty of producing between his front teeth a 

 shrill melody of an original, and I should think, in- 

 describable character ; and it is chiefly when he 

 summons the half-dozen cats on the premises to 

 dinner, that he exercises his musical talent in this 



