338 ZOOLOGY. 
publication of the ‘Babes in the Wood’ to the present day. A marked 
peculiarity in the manners of this bird is its familiarity. A constant 
attendant on the works of man, it follows him during his out of door 
avocations, and enters his dwellings, as if conscious of the general feeling 
with which it is beheld, and unsuspicious of the possibility of being 
entrapped by the closing of the doors or windows. This may be accounted 
for both by a disposition to sociality with mankind and cultivation, 
undoubtedly innate to many tribes of creatures, and particularly to the 
Ruminantia and Rasores, which this bird in its own circle will partly 
represent; and it may also be attracted by the prospect of food, which 
instinct teaches will be found in its vicinity. When the weather becomes 
severe many are drawn towards our houses, entering for warmth and to 
collect food. At first they are wary and watchful, but if unmolested and 
allowed a free egress, they will take up their abode in a room or a lobby 
for a month at a time, selecting a roosting-place on the cornice or on some 
curtain top, warbling their song when the day is clear or the fire burns 
brightly, and in every way seeming at ease and in confidence with the 
inmates.” 
The robin is distributed over the whole of Europe and the adjoining 
parts of Asia and Africa. 
The pretty and familiar blue-bird (Sialia wilsoni) of the United States 
belongs here. 
“The pleasing manners and sociable disposition,” says Wilson, “of this 
‘little bird entitle him to particular notice. As one of the first messengers 
of spring, bringing the charming tidings to our very doors, he bears his 
own recommendation always along with him, and meets with a hearty 
welcome from everybody. 
“Though generally accounted a bird of passage, yet so early as the 
middle of February (in Pennsylvania), if the weather be open, he usually 
makes his appearance about the old haunts, the barn, orchard, and fence 
posts. Storms and deep snows sometimes succeeding, he disappears for a 
time; but about the middle of March is again seen accompanied by his 
mate, visiting the box in the garden, or the hole in the old apple tree, the 
cradle of some generations of his ancestors. The preliminaries being 
settled and the spot fixed on, they begin to clean out the old nest and the 
rubbish of the former year, and to prepare for their future offspring. Soon 
after this another sociable little pilgrim, the house wren, also arrives from 
the south ; and finding such a snug berth pre-occupied shows his spite by 
watching a convenient opportunity, and in the absence of the owner 
popping in and pulling out sticks, but takes special care to make off as fast 
as possible. 
“ The usual spring and summer song of the blue-bird is a soft, agreeable, 
and oft-repeated warble, uttered with open, quivering wings, and is 
extremely pleasing. 
“In his motions and general character he has great resemblance to the 
robin redbreast of Britain, and had he the brown olive of that bird, instead 
of his own blue, could scarcely be distinguished from him. Like him he is 
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