COVERT WARBLERS 105 



Sometimes, friendly as he is, his visits are 

 not always considered as omens of good. 

 When he sits on the window-sill and taps on 

 the glass for food to be put out for him, some 

 of the cottagers are apt to wish he would not 

 do so, as in their opinion any bird tapping on 

 glass is not quite right somehow. This is 

 nothing out of the way, however ; for the 

 sparrows that are regularly fed at my own 

 house will tap on the glass for more, if they 

 are hungrier than usual. 



In the summer, although he is not far from 

 man and his dwellings, he does not show him- 

 self very frequently, as he has a family to look 

 after. But when the corn is carried, then by 

 degrees he draws near for the winter ; and in 

 the morning, the afternoon, and the evening 

 you can hear his song drawing nearer, day by 

 day, until at last there is Robin, bold and 

 bright as of old, waiting for you to repay him 

 for his song. 



From a technical point much might be 

 written about him which, however, we feel 

 confident our readers would not read. All 

 this has been done by others. I would deal 

 more with Robin as a feathered creature whose 

 traditions for some inexplicable reason have 



