3H6 



8 



permitted to destroy them ; for very few even of the most daring and hard-hearted amongst them 

 will venture to destroy either them or their nests. So deeply have their minds been impressed 

 by the recital of the well-known and affecting history of the babes of the wood, who, after they 

 had been left to perish with hunger, were covered with leaves by these little creatures. 



"'During the months of autumn and amidst the desolation of winter, when almost all the 

 songsters of the woods are silent, we listen to their pleasing notes with delight. I have known 

 several curious facts relative to their tameness, of which I shall relate only one at present. In 

 the summer of 1835 a male Robin in my garden became so tame that he picked worms from the 

 hand of the gardener, and in the middle of the day, when the latter took his dinner, he con- 

 stantly attended for the purpose of obtaining a portion of it. Upon the knee of my wife I have 

 repeatedly seen him alight, and take bread out of her hand as familiarly as if he had been tamed 

 from the nest. To me he likewise became very much attached. He continued so during the 

 autumn. One cold morning in the beginning of winter, as I was standing at the door of my house, 

 having heard my voice lie immediately flew to me, and, seeming to claim my protection, followed 

 me into the parlour, where he was quite at ease. I caught him and put him into my garret, in 

 which, during the winter, he sang most delightfully. Being sorry to see him alone, I got for 

 him a helpmate to cheer him in his confinement. About the middle of April I set them at 

 liberty, and, to my surprise, a few days after I discovered a very neat nest which they had built. 

 The outside of it was composed of the stalks of dried horehound, which I had suspended from 

 the roof as a medicine for the cold ; and the inside was lined with a few feathers, and the down 

 of the ragwort which I had there kept for my Bullfinch. It shows to what shifts birds have 

 recourse when deprived of the proper materials for the construction of their nests. About eight 

 days after this, whilst I was sitting in the parlour, my old friend flew in, and immediately 

 recognized me. After keeping him for two weeks I put him out, when he flew to the garden, 

 where lie remained during the summer, and with his partner reared a brood of six fine Robins.'" 



Thompson, in his ' Birds of Ireland,' says that " in the very mild winter of 1831-32 a Red- 

 breast very frequently joined a friend and his lady residing at Milltown in the Falls, at breakfast; 

 without invitation, it ate of the bread and butter on the table, and, when not so employed, made 

 itself quite at home by perching on the toasting-fork at the fire. In summer it built in one of 

 the outhouses, and visited the kitchen daily; its song was in August poured forth in the hall. 

 In this house, also, a Redbreast once built its nest in the fold of a bed-curtain in an occupied 

 chamber. Its absence being preferred to its presence there, the room window was closed against 

 the intruder, in consequence of which the first egg was laid outside on the bare window-sill. 

 This circumstance caused pity for the birds ; the window was reopened, and the egg placed in the 

 nest, where the usual number were duly deposited and incubated." 



The song of the Robin is clear, mellow, and tolerably powerful. It sings at almost all 

 seasons of the year, except in the winter; and the song is uttered from the top of a tree, wall, 

 or some elevated perch, being more generally heard in clear, calm evenings. "Several good 

 observers," writes Professor Newton, " have expressed their belief that when at evening a Red- 

 breast takes its stand on the topmost twig of a tree or other elevated position, and there continues 

 to sing, a fine day on the morrow may be safely predicted. This evening song, however, is not 

 to be confounded with the peculiar call-note uttered by the bird when ordinarily retiring to rest. 



