36 love's meinie 



You must note, however, that the robin's 

 charm is greatly helped by the pretty space 

 of grey plumage which separates the red 

 from the brown back, and sets it off to its 

 best advantage. There is no great brilliancy 

 in it, even so relieved ; only the finish of it 

 is exquisite. 



34. If you separate a single feather, you 

 will find it more like a transparent hollow 

 shell than a feather (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 overlapped 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 exquisite 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, 



