198 DICTIONARY OF NAMES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 
RrveR SwaLLtow: The SAND-MARTIN. (Yorkshire.) 
Rixy: The COMMON TERN. (East Suffolk.) 
RoapD GoosE or RHopE GoosE: The BRENT GOOSE. The 
latter form is a Yorkshire name. Perhaps from its cry 
(“‘rott ”’). 
RoaRER. Swainson gives this as a Border name for the BARN- 
OWL. 
RoOBERD or RoBINET. Names forthe CHAFFINCH. (Swainson.) 
Rosin. An alternative name for the REDBREAST, and a con- 
traction of the Old English name “‘ Robin Redbreast ”’ (see 
Redbreast). The present name is an anglicization of 
the French Robin, a proper name, in fact a diminutive of 
Robert. Robin is still in use with us provincially as a 
Christian name. It is one of the most familiar of English 
birds, and occurring most frequently in our folk-lore and 
literature. The most familiar of all rhymes on this bird 
is, of course, the well-known ‘‘ Death of Cock Robin.” A 
Derbyshire children’s rhyme on the death and resurrection 
of Cock Robin commences: “Cock Robin is dead and 
lies in his grave.” It is, however, of little value in the 
Robin cycle (‘‘ Folklore Journal,’ December, 1883). For 
a note on a Breton song, “‘ Les Noces du Roitelet,” nar- 
rating the wedding of the Robin and Wren, see the same 
journal for May, 1883. This song, in which all the birds 
bring presents or perform services, is similar in many 
respects to the English rhyme “‘ The Wedding of Cock Robin 
and Jenny Wren.” A couplet still heard at times on the 
same unscientific union runs: ‘‘ The Robin and the Wren 
are God’s Cock and Hen.” Or, according to Mr. Dyer’s 
version :— 
The Robin and the Wren 
Are God Almighty’s Cock and Hen : 
Him that harries their nest, 
Never shall his soul have rest. 
An old belief was that the Robin and Wren, and more 
particularly the former, had a habit of covering, with leaves 
or moss, unburied bodies, a belief arising no doubt from 
the old story of the “‘ Babes in the Wood.” The supposed 
habit is, however, alluded to by Drayton and by Webster. 
The superstitions relating to this bird are many. In some 
parts of Northamptonshire it is still held in veneration, 
and its killing is regarded in the light of sacrilege. This 
aversion to its killing obtains, in fact, in many parts of the 
country, the feeling being traceable to the bird’s attempt, 
according to one legend, to draw the nails, and according 
