SAXICOLIN^E. ERITHACUS. 133 



quent woods, thickets, and gardens, but feed chiefly on the 

 ground, where they hop with their wings depressed, and the 

 tail horizontal. 



70. ERITHACUS KUBECULA. ROBIN REDBREAST. 



Upper parts olive-green, the quills and tail-feathers greyish- 

 brown, the outer secondary coverts with a small brownish-yel- 

 low spot at the tip ; anterior part of forehead, loral space, sides 

 of the head, fore neck, and anterior part of the breast, yellow- 

 ish-red ; a line of ash-grey over the eye and down the side of 

 the neck. The female differs only in having the red on the 

 neck somewhat paler, and the upper parts tinged with grey. 

 The young have the upper parts dusky olive with a spot of dull 

 orange on each feather, the secondary coverts largely tipped 

 with dusky orange, the lower parts brownish-yellow, the tips 

 and edges of the feathers dark brown. 



Male,^, 9, 2}, T 5 , 1,>|, T V Female, 5^, 9. 



The lively, pert, pugnacious, and cheerful Robin occurs in 

 all the wooded and cultivated parts of the country, frequent- 

 ing the neighbourhood of houses during winter. It has a short, 

 rapid, direct flight ; on the ground hops, stands, and starts for- 

 ward, in the manner of the Thrush ; feeds on worms and in- 

 sects, berries, and farinaceous substances. Its song is lively, 

 clear, and mellow. The nest, which is placed under a hedge, 

 bush, or tuft of herbage, on the ground, or on a mossy bank, 

 is bulky, composed of various materials, lined with hair and 

 wool. The eggs, five or six, are of a regular oval form, nine 

 and a half twelfths in length, seven and a fourth twelfths in 

 breadth, reddish-white, faintly freckled with light purplish- 

 red. Individuals sometimes enter houses in winter, and on 

 being caught, soon become familiar. Its blood has a singularly 

 nauseous and bitter taste. The Robin is a privileged bird, 

 spared even by Cockney sportsmen, every one looking on him 

 as a friendly and pleasant little fellow, whose company is never 

 tiresome. I have heard of a closet naturalist who, slighting 

 the labours of a brother of the field, alleged that he could pen 

 a volume on the Robin ; but surely, if confined to the subject, 

 written in the manner of the Classification of Birds in Lard- 

 ner's Cyclopsedia, and without the aid of fable, it would prove 

 a duller book than Robinson Crusoe. 



Robin. Redbreast. Robinet. Ruddock. 



Motacilla Rubecula, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 337. Sylvia Ru- 

 becula, Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 215. Erithacus Rubecula, 

 Robin Redbreast, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, ii. 263. 



