198 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



RIVER SWALLOW : The SAND-MARTIN. (Yorkshire.) 



RIXY : The COMMON TERN. (East Suffolk.) 



ROAD GOOSE or RHODE GOOSE : The BRENT GOOSE. The 

 latter form is a Yorkshire name. Perhaps from its cry 

 ("rott"). 



ROARER. Swainson gives this as a Border name for the BARN- 

 OWL. 



RoBERDorRoBiNET. Names for the CHAFFINCH. (Swainson.) 



ROBIN. An alternative name for the REDBREAST, and a con- 

 traction of the Old English name " Robin Redbreast " (see 

 Redbreast). The present name is an anglicization of 

 the French Robin, a proper name, in fact a diminutive of 

 Robert. Robin is still in use with us provincially as a 

 Christian name. It is one of the most familiar of English 

 birds, and occurring most frequently in our folk-lore and 

 literature. The most familiar of all rhymes on this bird 

 is, of course, the well-known " Death of Cock Robin." A 

 Derbyshire children's rhyme on the death and resurrection 

 of Cock Robin commences : " Cock Robin is dead and 

 lies in his grave." It is, however, of little value in the 

 Robin cycle ("Folklore Journal," December, 1883). For 

 a note on a Breton song, " Les Noces du Roitelet," nar- 

 rating the wedding of the Robin and Wren, see the same 

 journal for May, 1883. This song, in which all the birds 

 bring presents or perform services, is similar in many 

 respects to the English rhyme " The Wedding of Cock Robin 

 and Jenny Wren." A couplet still heard at times on the 

 same unscientific union runs : " The Robin and the Wren 

 are God's Cock and Hen." Or, according to Mr. Dyer's 

 version : 



The Robin and the Wren 

 Are God Almighty's Cock and Hen : 

 Him that harries their nest, 

 Never shall his soul have rest. 



An old belief was that the Robin and Wren, and more 

 particularly the former, had a habit of covering, with leaves 

 or moss, unburied bodies, a belief arising no doubt from 

 the old story of the " Babes in the Wood." The supposed 

 habit is, however, alluded to by Drayton and by Webster. 

 The superstitions relating to this bird are many. In some 

 parts of Northamptonshire it is still held in veneration, 

 and its killing is regarded in the light of sacrilege. This 

 aversion to its killing obtains, in fact, in many parts of the 

 country, the feeling being traceable to the bird's attempt, 

 according to one legend, to draw the nails, and according 



