146 Silviadce. 



near a house where anyone happens to be ill. And so in the 

 north of Devon they have a saying that when a Robin perches 

 on the roof of a cottage, and utters its plaintive ' weet,' the baby 

 in the cottage will die. Another widely-spread belief is that if a 

 Robin should chance to die in your hand, from that day forth 

 your hand will always shake, as if with palsy ; hence the obvious 

 moral, be careful to have no hand in causing the death of a 

 Robin. Amongst many other superstitions current regarding this 

 bird, I will mention only the following pretty legend current in 

 Wales, that, ' far, far away is a land of woe, darkness, spirits of 

 evil, and fire. Day by day does this little bird bear in its bill a 

 drop of water to quench its flames. So near the burning stream 

 does he fly, that his dear little feathers are scorched, and hence 

 he is called Bron-rhuddyn, or " Breast-burnt." To serve little 

 children the Robin dares approach the infernal pit, so no child 

 of proper feeling will hurt this devoted benefactor of man. But 

 the Robin returns from the land of fire, and therefore feels the 

 cold of winter far more than his brother birds, and in consequence 

 deserves and claims man's especial protection and assistance.'* 

 Its name is almost universally derived in all countries, as with 

 us, from its highly-coloured breast ; thus rulccula is ' the little 

 red bird,' from nibeo, ' I am red/ Erithacus, again, the generic 

 name bestowed on it by some ornithologists, is from tpivOw, ' I 

 make red.' In France it is Bee-Jin Rouge gorge ; in Germany, 

 Rothbrustiger Sanger; in Sweden, Rodkake Sdngare, 'Red-throated 

 Warbler;' in Spain, Gargantirojo, 'Red-throat/ and Pechi-rulio, 

 4 Red-breast.' 



41. REDSTART (Phcenicura ruticilla), 



Or 'Redtail/ for start is but the old English word for 'tail,' 

 familiar to us in Start Point, the tail-end of England, or the 

 promontory jutting out into the sea last seen by the outward- 

 bound voyager. It is also called 'Firetail' and 'Brandtail/ from 

 its flaming colour; and ' Quickstart,' from the rapidity with which 

 it flirts that member. In Swedish, Rodstjert-Sdnyare or ' Red- 

 * Dyer's ' English Folk-lore,' p. GO. 



