OUR FOREST CHORISTERS. 165 



of the belly. He never has those fine intervals of lunacy 

 into which his cousins, the cat-bird and the mavis, are apt 

 to fall. But, for a' that and twice as muckle 's a' that, I 

 would not exchange him for all the cherries that ever came 

 out of Asia Minor. With whatever faults, he has not 

 wholly forfeited that superiority which belongs to the chil- 

 dren of nature. 



4. The robins are not good solo-singers, but their cho- 

 rus, as, like primitive fire- worshipers, they hail the return 

 of light and warmth, is unrivaled. There are a hundred 

 singing like one. They are noisy enough then, and sing, 

 as poets should, with no afterthought. But when they 

 come after cherries to the tree near my window, they muf- 

 fle their voices, and their faint "pip, pip, pop!" sounds 

 far away at the bottom of the garden, where they know I 

 shall not suspect them of robbing the great walnut-tree of 

 its bitter-rinded store. They are feathered Pecksniffs, to 

 be sure, but then how brightly their breasts, that look 

 rather shabby in the sunlight, shine on a rainy day against 

 the dark green of the fringe-tree ! After they have pinched 

 and shaken all the life out of an earthworm, as Italian 

 cooks pound all the spirit out of a steak, and then gulp 

 him, they stand up in honest self-confidence, expand their 

 red waistcoats with the virtuous air of a lobby member, 

 and outface you with an eye that calmly challenges inquiry. 

 " Do I look like a bird that knows the flavor of raw ver- 

 min ? I throw myself upon a jury of my peers." 



5. Ask any robin if he ever ate anything less ascetic 

 than the frugal berry of the juniper, and he will answer 

 that "his vows forbid him." Can such a bosom cover such 

 depravity ? Alas, yes ! I have no doubt his breast was 

 redder at that very moment with the blood of my raspber- 

 ries. On the whole, he is a doubtful friend of the garden. 

 He makes his dessert on all kinds of berries, and is not 

 averse to early pears. But when we remember how om- 



