40 SAXI COLIN JE. 



Even to the reckless scapegrace who indulges In practical 

 ornithology by causing sundry unfledged sparrows to perform 

 extraordinary aerial feats, u nolens volens," or collecting an 

 amazing number of small eggs to perform tricks with them 

 which far outdo the egg problem of Columbus, even to this 

 outlaw to all good feelings, the nest of the redbreast is sa- 

 cred ; his hands would no more despoil it than would the 

 Hollander the nest of his favourite stork, or the Egyptian 

 the chickens of Pharoah.* Wild and untutored, ask him his 

 reasons for allowing it to remain in safety, and in many parts 

 of Ireland you are simply answered : 



" The robin and the wren 

 Are God's two holy men.*' 



Right was the quaint poet who wrote 



" Sacred is the household bird 

 That wears the scarlet stomacher." 



So many anecdotes are recorded of the tamenessof this bird, 

 that it would require a reasonable volume to recount them. 

 But as perfection is unattainable among the human race, so 

 it is with the robin he has equally his vices as his virtues. 

 His determined pugnacity, and love of tyranny over birds 

 even larger than himself, have been remarked by all its ob- 

 servers. We are even told by an old Latin proverb, " Two 

 robins feed not on the same tree together. " Indeed, we can 

 scarcely think that the same bird who pleads before us for a 

 crumb, with its mild humid eye beaming with meekness, 

 should, on the appearance of a rival, attack it with all the in- 

 tensity of hatred possible for any bird to assume, and often- 

 times to carry its struggles for superiority so far, that the 

 lives of either or both are forfeited. A very common species, 

 it is abundantly distributed in all parts of our island, and 

 principally so in the immediate vicinity of man. Its food 

 consists of earthworms and insects during summer, and 

 crumbs of bread and refuse of all kinds are appropriated in 

 winter. The nest is of neat structure, and is placed under 

 a bush, or against a bank ; the eggs average four to five, 

 reddish white, speckled with light brown. 



* The numbers of Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) 

 who perform the duties of scavengers in all the cities of the East, 

 unmolested by the inhabitants, are called "chickens of Pharoah" in 

 Egypt and Turkey. 



