THE REDBREAST. 191 



" The ruddock would, 

 With charitable bill, (0 bill, sore shaming 

 Those rich-left heirs, that let their fathers lie 

 Without a monument,) bring thee all this ; 

 Yea, and furr'd moss besides, when flowers are none, 

 To winter-ground thy corse. 



There was evidentlj, in the olden time, a pretty 

 generally diffused notion,, that the robin strewed 

 the graves of the friendless, who had none to cover 

 them, or to plant a flower on the tomb. It is not 

 easy in later days to detect the origin of legends, 

 but in this case there is one practice of the bird, 

 which, combined with his love of man, might 

 suggest the notion to some imaginative mind. If 

 the spot on which the robin builds its nest is not 

 well hidden by the surrounding foliage, the birds 

 often cleverly conceal it, by amassing a number 

 of withered leaves around the spot. The mother- 

 bird will also sometimes, when leaving her nest, 

 cover over the eggs in the same way. Shakespere 

 calls our bird the ruddock ; and it is still in some 

 counties called so. It is doubtless a corruption of 

 redcock. 



But much as the robin wins our regard by its 

 confiding companionship, yet it must be confessed 

 that it has a trait of character not quite so pleasing. 



