140 THE REDBREAST. 



and the Wren (Troglodytes vulgar is). These two birds 

 have for centuries, from some unexplained cause, been 

 always associated together. The country people, in 

 many parts of England, still regard them as the male 

 and female of one species, and support their assertion 

 with an old couplet 



" The robin-redbreast and the wren 

 Are God Almighty's cock and hen." 



In these days, when so much more attention is paid to 

 ornithology than formerly, it will be hardly necessary to 

 observe that the two birds thus associated together are 

 not only of very distinct species, but belong to widely 

 different genera. 



An old name for the redbreast is " ruddock " * the 

 meaning of which is illustrated in the word " ruddy ;" and 

 the bird is still known by this name in some parts of 

 England. 



Shakespeare has thus named it in one of his most 

 beautiful passages : 



" With fairest flowers 



Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele, 

 I '11 sweeten thy sad grave : thou shalt no,t lack 

 The flower that 's like thy face, pale primrose, nor 

 The azur'd hare-bell, like thy veins ; no, nor 

 The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander, 



* " The ruddock warbles soft. " SPENSER'S Epithalamium, I. 82. 



