ROBIN. 21 
sometimes black, or dusky near the tip of the upper mandible ; the head, 
back of the neck, and tail, is black; the back and rump, an ash color ; 
the wings are black, edged with light ash; the inner tips of the two 
exterior tail-feathers, are white; three small spots of white border the 
eye; the throat and upper part of the breast is black, the former 
streaked with white; the whole of the rest of the breast, down as far 
as the thighs, is of a dark orange; belly and vent, white, slightly 
waved with dusky ash; legs, dark brown; claws, black and strong. 
The colors of the female are more of the light ash, less deepened 
with black; and the orange on the breast is much paler, and more 
broadly skirted with white. The name of this bird bespeaks him a 
bird of passage, as are all the different spec:es of Thrushes we have; 
but the one we are now describing, being more unsettled, and contin- 
ually roving about from one region to another, during fall and winter, 
seems particularly entitled to the appellation. Scarce a winter passes 
byt innumerable thousands of them are seen in the lower parts of the 
whole Atlantic states, from New Hampshire to Carolina, particularly 
in the neighborhood of our towns; and, from the circumstance of 
their leaving, during that season, the country to the north-west of the 
great range of the Alleghany, from Maryland northward, it would ap- 
pear that they not only migrate from north to south, but from west to 
east, to avoid the deep snows that generally prevail on these high 
regions for at least four months in the year. 
The Robin builds a large nest, often on an apple-tree, plasters it in 
the inside with mud, and lines it with hay or fine grass. The female 
lays five eggs, of a beautiful sea-green. Their principal food is ber- 
ries, worms, and caterpillars. Of the first he prefers those of the sour 
gum, oe sylvatica.) So fond are they of gum-berries, that, wher- 
ever there is one of these trees covered with fruit, and flocks of Rob- 
ins in the neighborhood, the sportsman need only take his stand 
near it, load, take aim, and fire; one flock succeeding another, with 
little interruption, almost the whole day: by this method, prodigious 
table in Spain and Italy, great numbers are taken for the same purpose, with nets 
and various kinds of snares. With the severity of the season, however, and the dif- 
ference of food, the flesh acquires a bitter flavor, which renders them unfit for culi- 
nary purposes, and affords a temporary respite from their merciless persecutions. 
The title Merula, which Mr. Swainson and several of our modem ornithologists 
have adopted, was used by Ray only as a sub-genus among his “ Turdinum genus,” 
and contained that division to which the Blackbird and Ringousel would belong ; 
Turdus being confined to those with spotted breasts. I do not consider the very 
trifling difference in form between the plain and spotted species to be of sufficient 
importance, and prefer retaining the generic name of Turdus, as one well known 
and long accepted. 
Robin seems to be applied in America generally to several of the Thrushes ; some 
expletive going before to designate the species by its habits, as “ Wood Robin,” 
“Swamp Robin,” “Ground Robin,” &c. Our present species is THE RoBIN ; and, 
as the preceding was a favorite on account of its song, this is no less so from the 
unassuming and dependent familiarity of its manners: it was most probably this, 
joined with the color of the breast, which first suggested the name of our own 
hanes bird to the earlier British settlers, and along with it part of the respect with 
which its namesake is treated in this country. 
An African species, Turdus olivaceus, (le Griveron, Vieill.) is nearly allied in the 
distribution of the markings. I have se.other, 1 believe, from South America, whicb 
approaches both nearly. — Ep. 
