THE EEDBEEAST. 



295 



distance of nearly forty miles. It remained at Frankfort for thirty-six hours, and was 

 then brought back to Giessen, and after one or two short journeys, came back again to 

 rest at Giessen, after a period of four days. The young birds were by this time partly 

 fledged, and finding that the parent bird had not deserted her offspring, the superintendent 

 carefully removed the nest to a place of safety, whither the parent soon followed. The 

 young were, in process of time, full fledged, and left the nest to shift for themselves. It 

 is evident that one at least of the parent birds must have accompanied the nest in all its 

 journeys, for, putting aside the difficulty which must have been experienced by the parents 

 in watching for every carriage that arrived at Giessen, the nestlings would have perished 

 from hunger during their stay at Frankfort, for every one who has reared young birds is 

 perfectly aware that they need food every two hours. Moreover, the guard of the train 

 repeatedly saw a red-tailed bird flying about that part of the carriage on which the nest 

 was placed. 



There are few birds which are more familiar to us than the PtEDBKEAST or Eobin, a 

 bird which is interwoven among our earliest recollections, through the medium of the 

 Children in the Wood, and the 

 mournful ballad of the Death and 

 Burial of Cock Eobin. 



Although the Eedbreast re- __.,..,n*ea^^i^^ 



mains in England throughout the 

 winter, it is very susceptible to 

 cold, and one of the first birds to 

 seek for shelter, its appearance 

 among the outhouses being always 

 an indication of coming inclemency. 

 In cold weather, the Eedbreast 

 seldom perches upon twigs and 

 branches, but crouches in holes, 

 or sits upon the ground. The 

 bird seems strongly attached to 

 man and his home, and will fol- 

 low the ploughman over the fields, 

 picking up the worms which he 

 turns up with the ploughshare, or 

 enter his house and partake of 

 his evening meal. Both bold and 

 shy, the Eedbreast is a most en- 

 gaging bird, and seldom fails of 

 receiving the affection of those to 

 whom he attaches himself. One 



of these birds was exceedingly familiar with all our family, his acquaintance having 

 commenced through the medium of some crumbs from our hands, and would always 

 come to us whenever we called his name, " Bobby." Sometimes he would accompany us 

 on our way to church through the lanes, and I have even seen him keeping pace with us 

 along the one-sided street of Oxford, that is appropriately named Long Wall. 



Bread and butter is a very favourite dainty with the Eobin, who has often been known 

 to come uninvited, and to peck from the table. " Butter," according to Mr. Thompson, 

 " is so great a dainty to these birds, that in a friend's house, frequented during the winter 

 by one or two of them, the servant was obliged to be very careful in keeping what was in 

 her charge covered, to save it from destruction ; if unprotected, it was certain to be eaten. 

 I have known them to visit labourers at breakfast-time to eat butter from their hands, and 

 enter a lantern to feast on the candle. One, as I have been assured, is in the constant 

 habit of entering a house in a tanyard in Belfast, by the window, that it might feed upon 

 tallow, when the men were using this substance in the preparation of hides. But even 

 further than this, I have seen the Eedbreast exhibit its partiality for scraps of fat, &c. 



REDBREAST.— £r^<;ta«« mibieiila. 



