RIVER ROCK. 199 



to another, to pluck a spike from the Crown of Thorns at 

 the Crucifixion, and receiving a drop of blood in the effort, 

 from which the red colour of its breast arises. I have found 

 the same reluctance to kill attaching in Canada to the 

 American Robin (or red-breasted Thrush) ; the super- 

 stition having been transferred with the name. Another 

 Northamptonshire belief is that the Robin taps thrice at 

 the window of a room in which a sick person lies before the 

 death of the inmate. The belief in a Robin coming into 

 a house being a sign of death has been recorded from 

 Bath (" Folklore Journal," December, 1894). In Scotland 

 (accoroling to Dalyell), the Robin is considered a lucky token. 

 In Yorkshire it is believed that if a Robin is killed the 

 slayer's cows will give bloody milk. In Cornwall it is 

 thought to be unlucky to hunt the Robin or the Wren. 

 Another belief met with in some parts is that the Robin's 

 song is of ill omen when heard by a sick person, while a 

 curious superstition recorded in Chamber's " Book of Days " 

 (vol. i, p. 678) is to the effect that a Robin dying in one's 

 hand causes it to always shake afterwards ; this also exists 

 as a Berkshire belief. According to Bolam it is a common 

 Border belief that if the Robin sings from underneath a bush 

 it will rain, but if he mounts to the top of a bush to sing, 

 a fine day may be expected. Swainson says a Suffolk 

 rhyme is : 



If the Robin sings in the bush, 



Then the weather will be coarse ; 



But if the Robin sings on the barn, 



Then the weather will be warm. 



ROBIN. The male of the HOBBY was formerly so called some- 

 times by falconers, according to Col. Thornton. 



ROBINET : The Robin or REDBREAST; lit. "little Robin." 



ROBIN GOGH : The REDBREAST. (North Wales) lit. " red 

 robin." 



ROBIN HAWK. A name for the CROSSBILL. (Hett.) 



ROBIN REDBREAST. The old English name of the Robin (see 

 REDBREAST). Saxby says it is also a Shetland name 

 for the WREN. 



ROCK BLACKBIRD or ROCK STARLING : The RING-OUZEL. 

 (Ireland and Stirling.) 



ROCK-DOVE [No. 347]. The name arises from its more exclu- 

 sively frequenting cliffs and caves than its congeners. 

 Willughby calls it the " Common Wild Dove or Pigeon." 

 Montagu (1802), who employs the name Rock Dove for it, 

 unites the STOCK-DOVE with it under the mistaken 



