THE ROBIN 247 



the ground, flings it over his head, jumps on it, and when 

 he has thus mashed it into a pulp, pulls it to bits and 

 devours it piecemeal." 



Besides such natural food, the Robin has a number of 

 " acquired tastes." Fats of difiierent sorts have a positive 

 charm for him. He will dare much to get such dainties. 

 " I have known them to visit labourers at breakfast-time," 

 says one naturalist, "to eat butter from their hands, and 

 even enter a lantern to feast on the candle. One, as I 

 have been assured, was in the constant habit of entering 

 a house in a tan-yard in Belfast by the window, that it 

 might feed upon tallow, when the men were using this 

 substance in the preparation of hides." And he adds, 

 that in winter-time, especially if it be cold weather, 

 these birds seem to have a craving for cream ; while, on 

 more than one occasion, they have been known to fly in at 

 an outbuilding used as a washhouse and eat the soap. 



Other strange things tempt them too. One friendly 

 little Robin, who made himself quite at home at a certain 

 country house, often helped himself to whatever dishes 

 came to table. " On Christmas Day he made a good meal 

 of plum-pudding, which he seemed to enjoy, picking at it 

 vigorously." 



He appears to have been more moderate than another 

 I have read of, who took a great fancy to bread and 

 butter smeared with honey or sugar. He came back, one 

 day, to the friend who had treated him, bringing three 

 other Robins, and the four little gluttons made such a 

 hearty meal of this new food that they could not fly home. 

 They were lifted up and put into a quiet corner till the 

 morning. They were evidently neither sorry for their 

 excess nor ashamed of it, but ent and told other Robins. 

 For more and more came to the house, till between 



