SYLVIAD.E. 53 



THE ROBIN, OR, REDBREAST. Erythaca rubecula. In our 

 own land few members of the feathered race have been 

 regarded with greater favour than the Redbreast. His 

 clear, bright, glancing eye and pretty plumage, his brisk and 

 animated manner, his sweet and pleasant song, but above 

 all, his confiding, half- domesticated habits, have given him 

 a most unusual hold upon our kindly feelings. It is curious 

 to observe whenever the offshoots of our nation have exten- 

 ded, how our distant friends cherish his memory, by giving 

 the name of Robin to any of the feathered beauties of the 

 wood or waste around them which bears the least resem- 

 blance to their once familiar friend. In the United States 

 of America, a species of Thrush with a red breast is the 

 Robin of those lands. In Jamaica the colonists have their 

 Redbreast also, a lovely little bird, with the upper parts 

 emerald -green, the belly pale-yellow, tinged with rosy, and 

 the throat and gorget deep rich crimson plush. Of the 

 Australian Robin a specimen is before us, and an exqui- 

 site little bird it is for beauty of colour, with the breast of 

 the purest geranium-red, while its manners are of the same 

 sprightly character with those of its English namesake. 



Few birds are more bold in selecting the locations for 

 their nests than the Redbreast, and few more expert in con- 



