A FRIENDLY ROBIN 1 1 5 



butter, he came to the head of the table among the break 

 fast coffee things and opened his mouth in the very 

 manner of his spouse. Sausages were the food of the 

 moment, and they were really so good that he allowed 

 himself a certain indulgence. He is as nearly as possible 

 fearless, though only now and then consents to perch on 

 a hand : but devotion is his strong suit. The cock robin 

 is a singularly devoted parent in most families. We 

 watched one the other day feeding his mate on a table 

 provided by a gate-post. But for her stalwart form and 

 very red breast one would have thought her a youngster. 

 Not a bit of it ; she was a hungry mistress demanding 

 food and attention from her master. 



The sequel to this episode in a robin s life illustrates 

 some of the bird s feelings. The friendly cock robin 

 did not return to the favoured room in the next spring. 

 Instead he went to the back of the house, visited the 

 kitchen and established a friendly footing with the cook. 

 The change was not due to any fickleness or to a too 

 general friendliness. Whenever he came near the old 

 window, even on to the lawn in front of it, or the corner 

 of an orchard beside it, he was furiously attacked and 

 always routed by another cock it was thought one of 

 his own offspring. 



Most of us have known tame robins. They have built 

 in our bookshelves, or fed on our tables or perched on 

 our spades ; but we have often been not quite sure 

 whether the hen or the cock was present. The tamest in 

 my gallery learnt its friendliness at the foot of an artist 

 whose dry breadcrumbs it ate ; and developed its appar 

 ently morbid appetite by the accident that it was called 

 to feed a young cuckoo. It would take food for this 

 purpose from the hand of anyone, acquaintance or 

 stranger, and always fly straight off with it to the in- 



