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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 resem- 
blance 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, arc universally known, 
and as universally beloved. They arc as it were the prelude to the 
grand general concert, that is about to burst upon us from woods, fields 
and thickets, whitened with blossoms, and breathing fragrance. By the 
usual association of ideas, we therefore listen with more pleasure to 
this cheerful bird than to many others possessed of far superior powers, 
and much greater variety. Even his nest is held more sacred among 
schoolboys than that of some others ; and while they will exult in 
plundering a Jay's or a Cat-bird's, a general sentiment of respect pre- 
vails on the discovery of a Robin's. Whether he owes not some little 
of this veneration to the well known and Ion 2 established character of 
his namesake in Britain, by a like association of ideas, I will not pretend 
to determine._ He possesses a good deal of his suavity of manners ; and 
almost always seeks shelter for his young in summer, and subsistence 
for himself in the extremes of winter, near the habitations of man. 
The Robin inhabits the whole of North America from Hudson's Bay 
to Nootka Sound, and as far south as Georgia, though they rarely breed 
on this side the mountains farther south than Virginia. Mr. Forster 
says, that about the beginning of May they make their appearance in 
pairs at the settlements of Hudson's Bay, at Severn river ; and adds, 
a circumstance altogether unworthy of belief, viz. that at Moose "Fort 
they build, lay and hatch in fourteen days ! but that at the former place, 
four degrees more north, they arc said to take twenty-six days.* They 
arc also common in Newfoundland, quitting these northern parts in 
October. The young during the first season are spotted with white on 
the breast, and at that time have a good deal of resemblance to the 
Fieldfare of Europe. 
Mr. Hearne informs us, that the Red-breasted Thrushes, are commonly 
called at Hudson's Bay the Red-birds; by some the Blackbirds, on 
account of their note; and by others the American Fieldfares. That 
they make their appearance at Churchill river about the middle of May, 
and migrate to the south early in the fall. They are seldom seen there 
but in pairs; and are never killed for their flesh except by the Indian 
boys.t 
Several authors have asserted, that the Red-Breasted Thrush cannot 
* Phil. Trans, lxii., 309. 
t Journey to the Northern Ocean, p. 418, quarto. Lond. 1795. 
