I. THE ROBIN. 35 



(so delicately rounded the surface of it), — grey at the 

 root, where the down is, — tinged, and only tinged, 

 with red at the part that overlaps and is visible; so 

 that, when three or four more feathers have over- 

 lapped it again, all together, with their joined red, 

 are just enough to give the colour determined upon, 

 each^of them contributing a tinge. There are about 

 thirty of these glowing filaments on each side, (the 

 whole being no larger across than a well-grown 

 currant,) and each of these is itself another exqui- 

 site feather, with central quill and lateral webs, whose 

 filaments are not to be counted. 



The extremity of these breast plumes parts slightly 

 into two, as you see in the peacock's, and many other 

 such decorative ones. The transition from the entirely 

 leaf-like shape of the active plume, with its oblique 

 point, to the more or less symmetrical dualism of the 

 decorative plume, corresponds with the change from 

 the pointed green leaf to the dual, or heart-shaped, 

 petal of many flowers. I shall return to this part of 

 our subject, having given you, I believe, enough of 

 detail for the present. 



35. I have said nothing to-day of the mythology 

 of the bird, though I told you that would always 

 be, for us, the most important part of its natural 

 history. But I am obliged, sometimes, to take what 

 we immediately want, rather than what, ultimately, 



