466 
APPENDIX. 
bird attracted his notice by its eagerness in searching for food among 
the fresh-stirred earth : it often came very close to the spade, in search 
of a small white worm, of which it appeared to be particularly fond. 
Mr. Logan, acting upon this hint, gathered all of these that he could 
find, and hid them from the bird under a piece of slate ; when he had 
collected a considerable number, he prevailed on the robin, by the 
tempting display of them, to come and pick them, first from the blade 
of the spade, and afterwards from his hand. This was the beginning 
of their friendship, which had continued, without interruption, till the 
time of my visit, and probably continues still. Mr. Logan had never 
been absent from home for more than a few days at a time during the 
interval, and had seldom failed to feed him from his hand at least once 
a day while at home. 
“ It occurred to me that there might have been a number of birds, 
one of which had succeeded the other in this intercourse; but on put- 
ting a series of questions to find whether there were any grounds for 
this supposition, I could discover none, for Mr. Logan had never had 
two pet robins at the same time ; he had never noticed two birds con- 
tending for his favours ; * he had never observed one bird watching 
eagerly in the hedges while another was feeding upon his hand ; nor 
had he ever found his daily visitant more shy at any one time than he 
had been formerly. Throughout the whole period of thirty-two years, 
or upwards, during which the intimacy had subsisted, the bird had 
always promptly obeyed his signal. He had, therefore, not the slightest 
doubt upon his mind that the same identical redbreast had been his 
familiar during the whole time ; and he thinks it quite impossible that 
he could be mistaken upon the point. 
“ I have only to add that Mr. and Mrs. Gihon, and also Dr. Patrick 
of Ballymena, assured me, from their knowledge of the man’s character, 
that he is incapable of knowingly attempting to deceive. He is a very 
respectable person in his rank of life. They have long known him, 
and they all concur in this statement. They have also been aware of 
his familiarity with the bird for several years past, and have seen occa- 
sional instances of it, though none of them could, of course, pretend to 
verify the bird’s personal identity , or to state how long the intimacy 
had subsisted. 
“ Believe me, dear Sir, very truly yours, 
“ J. Scott Porter. 
