134 NATURALIST'S 



Description Melodious voice. 



biding themselves in the thickest parts of hedges 

 and bushes, and seldom singing but during the 

 night. 



THE REDBREAST. 



m 

 THIS favourite bird, universally admired for 



the freedom and shrillness of his song, has a 

 slender, delicate bill ; its eyes are large, dark, 

 and expressive, and its aspect mild ; its head and 

 all the upper parts of its body are brown, tinged 

 with a greenish olive; the neck and breast (ac- 

 cording to its name) are of a fine deep reddish 

 orange ; a spot of the same colour marks its fore- 

 head ; its belly is whitish, and the legs and feet 

 of a dusky black. It is near six inches in length 

 from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, the 

 former being about half an inch, and the latter 

 two inches and a half. 



The cock may be known by his breast being 

 of a deeper red than the hen's, and the red going 

 up farther upon the head, and some say by the 

 colour of his legs, which are darker, and by cer- 

 tain hairs which grow on each side of his bill : 

 the bright red breast is a mark, that may be de- 

 pended upon, for the others do not always hold. 

 The cock is likewise of a darker olive upon the 

 upper surface of his whole body. He has a sweet 

 melodious voice, so free and shrill, that very few 



