THE ROBIN. 



33 



to the Turdi of the ancients, which they bestowed so much 

 pains on in feeding and fattening. The young birds are fre- 

 quently and easily raised, bear the confinement of the cage, 

 feed on bread, fruits, &c, sing well, readily learn to imitate 

 parts of tunes, and are very pleasant and cheerful domestics. 

 In these I have always observed that the orange on the breast 

 is of a much deeper tint, often a dark mahogany or chestnut 

 colour, owing, no doubt, to their food and confinement. 



The robin is one of our earliest songsters ; even in March, 

 while snow yet dapples the fields, and flocks of them are dis- 

 persed about, some few will mount a post or stake of the fence, 

 and make short and frequent attempts at their song.* Early 

 in April, they are only to be seen in pairs, and deliver their 

 notes with great earnestness, from the top of some tree detached 

 from the woods. 



This song has some resemblance to, and indeed is no bad 

 imitation of, the notes of the thrush or thrasher {Tardus 

 rufus) ; but, if deficient in point of execution, he possesses 

 more simplicity, and makes up in zeal what he wants in talent ; 

 so that the notes of the robin, in spring, are universally known, 

 and as universally beloved. They are, as it were, the prelude 



* " The male is one of the loudest and most assiduous of the songsters 

 that frequent the fur countries, beginning his chant immediately on his 

 arrival. Within the arctic circle, the woods are silent in the bright 

 light of noonday ; but, towards midnight, when the sun travels near 

 the horizon, and the shades of the forest are lengthened, the concert com- 

 mences, and continues till six or seven in the morning." Thus speaks 

 Dr Richardson, in the " Northern Zoology," regarding the song of this 

 bird ; and he further adds, regarding the breeding and geographical 

 range : — " Its nests were observed, by the last Northern expedition, con- 

 ducted by Captain Sir J. Franklin, as high as the 67th parallel of lati- 

 tude. It arrives on the Missouri, in laU 41-|°, from the eastward, on the 

 11th of April ; and in the course of its northerly movement, reaches 

 Severn River, in Hudson's Bay, about a fortnight later. Its first ap- 

 pearance at Carlton House, in the year 1827, in lat. 53°, was on the 22d 

 April. In the same season it reached Fort Chippewyan, in lat. 55|°, on 

 the 7th of May ; and Fort Franklin, in lat. 65°, on the 20th of that 

 month. Those that build their nests in the 54th parallel of latitude, 

 begin to hatch in the end of May ; but 11° farther to the north, that 



VOL. I. C 



