98 THE ROBINS AND CHATS, 



something else than letting it hang down decently. 

 Lastly, they are all groundlings, collectors of crickets 

 and beetles and other small hard-backed insects that 

 run upon the face of the earth, but taking little inter- 

 est in caterpillars, or flies of any kind, and seldom 

 touching fruits. In all these respects they differ from 

 the Thrushes. 



I feel that the one which ought to head the list 

 is the Indian Robin ; but you must not let your 

 thoughts run on the bird which is begging for crumbs 

 at our windows in the old country. Mr. Phil Robin- 

 son, speaking of the difficulty of getting up anything 

 like a Christmas feeling in this land of. regrets, 

 complains that the very Robin, instead of wearing 

 a red waistcoat, wears a red seat to its trousers. This 

 is true if not expressed with prudery ; but it is not 

 the only difference between the two birds. The 

 Indian Cock Robin (Thamnobia fulwata) is a jet-black 

 bird, with the exception of the rusty patch above- 

 mentioned and a narrow band of pure white across 

 the wing, which scarcely appears except when it flies. 

 Nevertheless it is by nature a Robin', making a friend 

 of man, sitting on his house top, coming into his 

 verandah, or even singing to him from his own 

 window sill. You will not find it in orchards or 

 shady gardens, for it has a prejudice against perching 

 on a tree ; but wherever there are old stone walls, 

 humble human habitations, ruins, rocky wastes, or 

 stony fields, there it is at home with its smoke-coloured 

 mate, running a few steps on the ground, perching 

 on some point of rock, tossing up its tail till it almost 

 touches the back of its head, and throwing out snat- 

 ches of cheery song. No more description is needed, 



